Official Kawhi Watch Part 7: Speculation & Rumors

[frequency99]

Definitive proof that Lebron runs the Lakers. Dudley needed Lebron's signoff before he was allowed to join.

Read on Twitter

[raps_baller]

Does anyone still have hope or have we given up he is gone to the Lakers?

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using RealGM mobile app

Why would we give up hope? No credible people have indicated anything except that he has not yet made his decision. All the credible people (Woj, Shams, Stein, Haynes) etc. have said ZERO in regards to where Kawhi is leaning. We don't know but there is no reason to give up hope.

Cris Carter

Also MavCarter and some of the other posters say LA is likely and what happened. It seems they could be right. Also Asif16

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First of all, Cris Carter never breaks stories and if you're going to trust some people on RealGM by the names of "MavCarter" and "Asif16", then ok...

[Lord Eder]

From the NB perspective.

They already got Curry in California/West, and Kawhi being in LA they’re bound to take sales from one another. I’m pretty sure they want to market another superstar in the East. I think NB pushes for Toronto, but ultimately it’s Kawhi who decides.

On my end though, I do think NB plays a factor consideing how much money Kawhi has lost.

Curry is on Under Armor, not New Balance. Kawhi is by far their flagship guy.

That’s what he’s saying though. His theory is they’d rather him on the east coast rather than trying to butt and compete directly with Curry.

[DannyDEE]

The way I see it..iF Kawhi would promise the fans championship two months ago before the play off, but then he leaves for LA..who on this board wouldnt say yes to it.Hell half of the board would personally drove him to LA..lol..so..I cant be angry of he leaves us..I will be just dissapointed because wining is not granted in NBA and every other basketball reason points to Toronto. And I dont buy weather argument because weather and winters are equally harsh in NY..yet KD or Kyrie or anybody else dont complain being in NY state 4-5 winter months. neither is Uncle Dennis..

KD is from DC and Kyrie was raised in Jersey. A bit different than someone who grew up in the Inland Empire, went to school in San Diego and played most of his career in San Antonio. I obviously hope he chooses Toronto, but I don't think those are really comparable. Each individual is unique. KD and Irving grew up in colder weather, Kawhi didn't.

[dillio]

Raps Advantages:

1. Proven winner, defending champs
2. Proven front office
3. Proven coaching
4. Proven ownership
5. Proven medical staff

Lakers advantages:

1. LeBron and AD (but there's a downside to LeBron, too)
2. Lakers history
3. Closer to home
4. Weather


Marketing wise I'm not sure there's a huge difference.

After this year we don't give him a good chance to win. It's the Lakers, they're literally the most proven franchise in the history of the NBA. There's really no comparison on that front. Sure they just went through ridiculous problems right now, but the guy who got "back-stabbed", is still so loyal to the franchise that he recruited for them. The dysfunction for them (as enjoyable it is for me) is likely temporary.

You have to be kidding on the marketing end lol.

China LOVES Lebron/Kobe/Lakers. They're a much more global brand than the Raptors are.

These are unfortunate things we can't change. Our only hope is Kawhi focus's more on the fact that we have proven ourselves to him, rather than taking a leap of faith with the Lakers.

Lakers are risky. Raptors are safe. Kawhi strikes me as someone that prefers stability and less drama.

Objectively speaking, you're wrong. The Lakers are the safe pick (2 other All NBA Players, iconic franchise that everybody wants to play for, guaranteed to compete for the duration of his time there). The Raptors are the risky pick (aging group, nobody under contract after 2019-2020, no precedent of attracting big named Free Agents).

[ATLTimekeeper]

If we lose Kawhi because the Wizards needed Moritz friggen Wagner I don't know what to say...

Those contracts would have been absorbed by some other team. There's no need to blame the Wizards here.

[bluerap23]

The way I see it..iF Kawhi would promise the fans championship two months ago before the play off, but then he leaves for LA..who on this board wouldnt say yes to it.Hell half of the board would personally drove him to LA..lol..so..I cant be angry of he leaves us..I will be just dissapointed because wining is not granted in NBA and every other basketball reason points to Toronto. And I dont buy weather argument because weather and winters are equally harsh in NY..yet KD or Kyrie or anybody else dont complain being in NY state 4-5 winter months. neither is Uncle Dennis..

KD and Kyrie are both from east coast though. Not sure it is weather so much as being close to home. I also think Kyrie and KD will get off on beating LeBron in the finals.

[WuTang_CMB]

Danny Green holding off is huge.

Gotta give it to the guy. Dallas must have told him no worries we will wait on you prob in the 12-13M range.

Couldn't he be holding off for whatever team Kawhi goes to?

yeah could be that also. I think the only team for that is Toronto. If he goes to Lakers, I think he ends up in dallas

[DannyDEE]

From the NB perspective.

They already got Curry in California/West, and Kawhi being in LA they’re bound to take sales from one another. I’m pretty sure they want to market another superstar in the East. I think NB pushes for Toronto, but ultimately it’s Kawhi who decides.

On my end though, I do think NB plays a factor consideing how much money Kawhi has lost.

Curry is on Under Armor, not New Balance. Kawhi is by far their flagship guy.

That’s what he’s saying though. His theory is they’d rather him on the east coast rather than trying to butt and compete directly with Curry.

It read like he thought Curry was on New Balance. If anything, having Lebron on Nike will cannibalize Kawhi's sales among Laker fans, especially considering Kobe is also a loyal Nike guy.

[Madhouse]

Why would we give up hope? No credible people have indicated anything except that he has not yet made his decision. All the credible people (Woj, Shams, Stein, Haynes) etc. have said ZERO in regards to where Kawhi is leaning. We don't know but there is no reason to give up hope.

Cris Carter

Also MavCarter and some of the other posters say LA is likely and what happened. It seems they could be right. Also Asif16

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using RealGM mobile app

First of all, Cris Carter never breaks stories and if you're going to trust some people on RealGM by the names of "MavCarter" and "Asif16", then ok...

This Kawhi drama has people not thinking anymore, they are just panicking what random dudes say. Pretty sad.

[mademan]

There are two reasons Kawhi should stay;

1. We treated him well.
2. We believe he's not the type of guy to create a super-team.

Literally everything else points to the Lakers.

Weather, endorsement exposure, winning going forward, it's a historic franchise, you get to tap into some of the greatest players to ever play the game for advice, I could go on.

We've experienced over and over again that people who aren't born here, really don't care to play here for a long duration of their careers unfortunately.

Raps Advantages:

1. Proven winner, defending champs
2. Proven front office
3. Proven coaching
4. Proven ownership
5. Proven medical staff

Lakers advantages:

1. LeBron and AD (but there's a downside to LeBron, too)
2. Lakers history
3. Closer to home
4. Weather


Marketing wise I'm not sure there's a huge difference.

After this year we don't give him a good chance to win. It's the Lakers, they're literally the most proven franchise in the history of the NBA. There's really no comparison on that front. Sure they just went through ridiculous problems right now, but the guy who got "back-stabbed", is still so loyal to the franchise that he recruited for them. The dysfunction for them (as enjoyable it is for me) is likely temporary.

You have to be kidding on the marketing end lol.

China LOVES Lebron/Kobe/Lakers. They're a much more global brand than the Raptors are.

These are unfortunate things we can't change. Our only hope is Kawhi focus's more on the fact that we have proven ourselves to him, rather than taking a leap of faith with the Lakers.

Crazy, imo. Raps are better this year. After that, who knows. Lebron will be turning 37 in the 2020/2021 season, they'll be capped out, they'll have no depth and their 2 best players cant play 82 games. They have zero assets and will be going off their 'big 3'. I know its Lebron, but time is unbeaten in this life; at 37, there's no way he'll continue to be a superstar. Even the great KAJ was 'only' an all star back then

I easily trust Masai and co to keep a contender around Kawhi past this year than the Lakers brass. There's stability here. There's dysfunction there. While worse in year 1 on the Clips, they're the better long term option too

[TimberFrog]

In my.mind I am accepting he is going to the Lakers so if he resigns I will feel relived

So much negativity in this board has led to doubts seeping in

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[rocky_da_best]

It was a pretty epic troll job, I’ve never seen anything like it. BDE is playing on the heartstrings of Raps fans. The desperation level of finding out any info is hilarious. Kawhi’s decision is getting more play here than when we actually won a championship. It’s really incredible.

That the mods thought it was allowable was surprising to me.

I'm sorry but what is he 'getting away with' exactly'?

I was there last night and allowed his little 8PM shenanigans to go on because it was clearly baloney and everyone was having fun with it.

And frankly, anyone that genuinely believes that some poster on RGM is going to secretly reveal Kawhi's decision to a handful of random people on the internet deserves to be trolled.
Like people who fall for Onion articles - you don't blame the Onion for publishing fiction, you laugh at the reader for being so naive.

What's wrong is that his board has always had a precedent that if a thread is open where someone is claiming to have sources (it's happened enough times in the past) then it means they've contacted the mods and given them a reasonable explanation of the situation and divulged who their source is. I understand that there are a lot of trolls and a lot of posts to sift through, but what has happened on this board in the last week is inexcusable. From DH to alchemist to gianni13 to bde.

[Tomhomes33]

If we lose Kawhi because the Wizards needed Moritz friggen Wagner I don't know what to say...

Yup. It is insane.

Karma is bitch..Wizz already lost on Ujiri..wait until they are mediocre next few years and they lose Beal..keeping Beal for now will again place them 9-11in the east. not to good for play offs 1%chances for top lottery.
They deserve all of it.

If LAC miss on Kawhi they deserve it too for tampering all year long.

And LBJ deserves failure next season with or without Kawhi..will be looking forward to that..not sure in what shape or form it will come but I hope this “i am not good enough to win my own trophies” piece of you know..fails over and over again.

[WuTang_CMB]

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1866165

let's move this party

[ATLTimekeeper]

How long do you plan on waiting there itbobby? I can’t imagine someone coming in from the West Coast would want to have a meeting at 9:30 in the morning.

This is the most interesting part of the thread imo - I think a 9:30am reservation was way too early. At least a late breakfast could slowly turn into lunch and then afternoon drinks. How are you going to extend breakfast for more than an hour or two?

"More water, please... and could you let me know if any tall black people show up?"

[XTC]

From the NB perspective.

They already got Curry in California/West, and Kawhi being in LA they’re bound to take sales from one another. I’m pretty sure they want to market another superstar in the East. I think NB pushes for Toronto, but ultimately it’s Kawhi who decides.

On my end though, I do think NB plays a factor consideing how much money Kawhi has lost.

Curry is on Under Armor, not New Balance. Kawhi is by far their flagship guy.

Well there goes my theory LOO

[bluerap23]

After this year we don't give him a good chance to win. It's the Lakers, they're literally the most proven franchise in the history of the NBA. There's really no comparison on that front. Sure they just went through ridiculous problems right now, but the guy who got "back-stabbed", is still so loyal to the franchise that he recruited for them. The dysfunction for them (as enjoyable it is for me) is likely temporary.

You have to be kidding on the marketing end lol.

China LOVES Lebron/Kobe/Lakers. They're a much more global brand than the Raptors are.

These are unfortunate things we can't change. Our only hope is Kawhi focus's more on the fact that we have proven ourselves to him, rather than taking a leap of faith with the Lakers.

Lakers are risky. Raptors are safe. Kawhi strikes me as someone that prefers stability and less drama.

Objectively speaking, you're wrong. The Lakers are the safe pick (2 other All NBA Players, iconic franchise that everybody wants to play for, guaranteed to compete for the duration of his time there). The Raptors are the risky pick (aging group, nobody under contract after 2019-2020, no precedent of attracting big named Free Agents).

I believe the Lakers have been a bottom 5 organization for more than 5 years and Raps have been top 5. Leadership matters. Also LeBron is at the end of his career. He will decline and eat their cap while he is a fraction of himself.

[bboyskinnylegs]

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1866165

let's move this party

not until this reaches 100

[Raptorfan2012]

Definitive proof that Lebron runs the Lakers. Dudley needed Lebron's signoff before he was allowed to join.

Read on Twitter

Right, and to think anyone would believe Lebron would take the backseat to Kawhi if he signs hahaha.