Well, that didn’t take long. For a while there on Sunday it looked like the Philadelphia 76ers might land both LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard. Then James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, and all of a sudden Leonard appears to be angling to play there, too.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Leonard “wants to be a Laker.”
Late last week it was reported that Leonard had been in contact with King James about teaming up, and that James loved the idea of playing with a defensive star of his ilk. Now one of those dominoes has dropped.
San Antonio is a motivated seller, especially given how Leonard has made it clear he wants to be moving on. It’s going to be fascinating to see if Magic Johnson can pull off another blockbuster to bring Leonard to Los Angeles.
If that does happen, then perhaps the Lakers really can become good enough to challenge the best in the west, much sooner than anyone thought was possible. Then again, you have to imagine San Antonio is going to ask for the moon and then some to trade Leonard to one of its biggest rivals.