Despite some buzz on social media that Kawhi Leonard is leaning toward the Lakers, the reigning Finals MVP hasn’t reached a decision, tweets Cris Carter of Fox Sports 1. Carter – who has been an unexpectedly plugged-in source on Leonard since the forward’s days in San Antonio – adds that anyone thinking the Lakers have an edge on the Clippers or Raptors would be “wrong.”
Leonard is the last big star available in free agency, and his decision will have a long-lasting impact on all three franchises. Whichever club lands him will be a contender for the NBA title, while the other two teams will be scrambling to fill out their rosters. Leonard still hasn’t given any indication of when he plans to announce his choice.
Here are some more notes on the third day of free agency:
- Now that the Suns have added Frank Kaminsky, they will part ways with Dragan Bender, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). Bender had a disappointing three years in Phoenix after being selected with the fourth pick in the 2016 draft. He is an unrestricted free agent because the Suns declined his fourth-year option before the start of the season.
- The Warriors can’t make an offer similar to the $6.4MM MLE that landed DeMarcus Cousins last summer, notes Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). Golden State is so close to the hard cap that it cannot go much above minimum deals to complete its roster.
- Salah Mejri was working out today with the Mavericks‘ Summer League players and remains a possibility to re-sign, tweets Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News.
- As cap space dries up, restricted free agents such as Kelly Oubre, Delon Wright and Tyus Jones may benefit by accepting their teams’ qualifying offers and becoming unrestricted next summer in a weaker free agent class, suggests Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).
My head hurts and I’m tired. This free agency has had me stressed. I’ve said the only way I sign a big free agent is if it’s Kawhi but if it’s not Kawhi I’d spread that money around but at this pace we are losing all the free agents if we don’t get Kawhi. I know there’s decent ones but there but for how long? Sign Iggy, Cousins, Rondo, Caruso, Crawford and Green and call it a day.
Don’t forget the Morris twins. They are soild talent .
It’s time for the Lakers to tell Kawhi they’re out. They are in an asymmetric position with regard to Kawhi’s timeline. The Clippers don’t care. The Raptors don’t care. But the Lakers are getting weaker by the day due to their inability to commit that cap money. It doesn’t look like Kawhi really wants to go to the Lakers. If LeBron and AD and all the banners aren’t enough to persuade him, a Power Point isn’t going to help.
So the Laker narrative after this latest fiasco will return to: They’re the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. The only way they upend that narrative is if they start signing guys not named Kawhi with that money.
Best free agents out there or Kawhi… And you want to tell Kawhi your out. You just got fired as GM
his point is valid. if they wait any longer for Kawhi and he chooses elsewhere then they might lose out on the significant role players left on the market. honestly they might be better served spreading that money around. Lnj, AD and Kouzma are a legit big 3 anyway.
If they did that the best free agents out there are rondo, Morris twins , tj mcconnell , cousins, McGee and willie cauley stein
lol…welcome to Kawhis world.
Why can’t the Dubs get a disabled player exception for Klay?
Copying-and-pasting my comment from the Wall comment thread regarding a potential Klay DPE:
“They can apply. It probably wouldn’t be approved though, since it seems unlikely that Thompson will be deemed likely to be sidelined through next June 15 (ACL recoveries typically don’t take as long as Achilles recoveries).
Plus, even if they got a DPE, the Warriors still wouldn’t be able to go over the hard cap to use it. There’s no getting around the hard cap.”
Gotcha, thanks.
It’s unclear what motivation the Warriors had to put themselves in this situation in the first place. I get the other teams because the s&t got them special players they otherwise couldn’t get. But for the Warriors to get a solid guard they barely even want? What is the point?
The only thing I can think of is that it is a favor to Durant, to get him a max deal.
Durant could’ve gotten that deal anyway with the Nets’ cap room. The Warriors had to send Brooklyn a first-round pick to convince them to make it a sign-and-trade!
Russell is a great player, but it’s still a fascinating decision by the Warriors. You’d think with the two first-round picks they traded + Iguodala’s expiring contract, they could have got someone pretty good WITHOUT hard-capping themselves. But I’m sure they considered that and decided D-Lo was their best option.
two first rounders
22 years old
All-Star
22 points per game
Can handle the ball.
Definitely things they need with Durant gone and Klay gone for most of the year.
Didn’t want to lose Durant for nothing and got a great player many other teams wanted out of it.
I wonder what GSW’s time frame was for making that decision; how fast they had to jump on it. A player most people refer to by his cutesy nickname is not a fit with the Warriors.
So he replaces Klay for a
while, then gets flipped for value, despite that Russell was about to join his friends’team. Bad Karma. They should have just taken the lumps, kept their picks.
On ther other hand it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. And they did keep Looney.
When the Lakers flop hard after missing out on Kawhi, GS will trade Russell for LeBron and nobody would be surprised because it’s GS.
So what if Warriors reach the hard cap without reaching the minimum number of players required for the regular season when the season begins. Will they be forced to clear salaries or they cannot sign anyone that would prevent them from reaching the hard cap without space left for min contracts in the fist place?
They’d be forced to clear salary to get the roster minimum in that scenario. Presumably they won’t let it come to that point, but they’re gonna have really limited flexibility this year to add any in-season injury replacements, etc.
Thanks!
Well the story made it pretty clear. That they mostly likely only be able to give minimum deals to fill out the roster
The Warriors can still sign minimum salary players as they wish though correct? Or can they literally not even add minimum salaries to the hard cap.
The latter.
With KD and Klay out, this might be the best time for Demarcus Cousins to “pad his stats” and “prove” he’s still a top 5 center with the warriors. Possibly get a big pay day in next year’s free agency. Possibly Knicks lmao
They dont have any money… he’ll be playing on a wnba salary
Warriors are very limited with what they can offer. Unless he wants to play for a vet min he might go elsewhere
I don’t understand why Kawahi would want to be a 2nd fiddle to Lebron when he can still be the Man in Toronto or be the Man with the Clippers?
It’s a lot of work to be the man. Alot of expectations. He wants to partake in load management, 22 games off a year. With the Lakers he can comfortably do that.
Between James 34, Davis 26 & Leonard 28, not sure who the first fiddle would even be. Kind of a moot point. James may not mind some load relaxation himself. He tried to lead last year and they all said duhhhh
If the Leonard deal falls through (which is a good chance with Pelinka in the mix), the Lakers Plan B should be to go hard after Danny Green, Dragan Bender and a young point guard ( TJ McConnell or Tyrus Jones).