This whole Kawhi Leonard drama is becoming unbearable. The star forward previously requested a trade from the San Antonio Spurs earlier this offseason. It was then reported that he wanted to team up with LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Once James signed with Los Angeles, other reports surfaced indicating that Leonard didn’t want to exist in James’ shadows with the Lakers. At that point, the Los Angeles Clippers became a real possibility.
Apparently, that’s no longer the case. During his recent podcast, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Leonard is no longer intrigued by the idea of playing for the Clippers, primarily because he doesn’t want to compete with LeBron in the Los Angeles market.
“I’ve been told that one of the reasons (Kawhi Leonard) looks at going to the Clippers – is a little less motivated (to go to the Clippers) is because initially, the idea of Los Angeles was fine to him – he preferred the Lakers but was all right with the Clippers,” Wojnarowski noted. “But now that LeBron James is there, the idea of going head-to-head with LeBron – to have Kawhi with the Clippers and LeBron with the Lakers, and to maybe feel dwarfed by that. I’m told that’s become far less appealing for him.”
Let’s get this straight. Kawhi doesn’t want to play for the Lakers because of James’ presence on the team. He also doesn’t want to play for the Clippers because of James’ presence in Los Angeles. How fun.
The last few months have been filled with Leonard’s camp leaking information like this. He has not talked on the record about what happened with the Spurs last season, instead leaving that up to his handlers.
Now, Leonard is pushing back against the idea of heading to two teams that exist in the nation’s second-largest media market. Remember, it was previously noted tha he was not a fan of the hoopla that would come with playing in such a large market.
If so, here’s an idea for Kawhi. Maybe remain with the Spurs in San Antonio. Just some food for thought.