Kawhi Leonard

Kawhi Leonard Now Officially Extension-Eligible

July 16th, 2018 at 11:56am CST by Luke Adams

The possibility of a Kawhi Leonard contract extension with the Spurs has been a subject of discussion for much of the year, but Leonard wasn’t officially eligible to sign a new deal until today.

A veteran NBA player who signs a five-year contract becomes eligible to have that contract extended three years after it was signed. Leonard inked his current five-year deal with the Spurs on July 16, 2015, meaning today is the three-year anniversary of that signing.

Because he was named to one of the league’s All-NBA teams in both 2016 and 2017, Leonard is eligible for a Designated Veteran Extension, which means he could earn a starting salary worth up to 35% of the cap – rather than just 30% – on a new deal with the Spurs.

We won’t know exactly what such an extension would be worth until the 2019/20 salary cap is finalized. However, a five-year 35% max contract starting in ’19/20 based on the NBA’s current $109MM cap projection would have a starting salary of $38.15MM and an overall value of $221.27MM, including a fifth-year salary of $50.358MM.

The terms of a potential Leonard extension may ultimately be irrelevant though, since the star forward has shown no interest in staying in San Antonio long term. The Spurs likely won’t be willing to put that $221MM+ offer on the table anyway, since Leonard is coming off an injury-plagued 2017/18 campaign in which he appeared in just nine games. He wouldn’t be able to get the same deal with any other team.

Since the NBA introduced the Designated Veteran Extension in its most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement, the only players to sign such a deal are Stephen Curry, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and John Wall.

Noise From The North: The Latest On Kawhi Leonard

July 14th, 2018 at 2:19pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kawhi Leonard has dominated headlines all summer and he’ll likely be featured in the rumor mill until either the Spurs trade him or he commits to playing in San Antonio long-term. Rumors of the Raptors making a play for the disgruntled star made rounds during Summer League, and other teams such as the Sixers and Celtics come up in speculation about where Leonard is going to play next season.

Most of the news may simply be noise, as Leonard has long been linked to Los Angeles, the only city he reportedly wants to play for. Cris Carter of Fox Sports hears that Leonard hasn’t changed his stance.

“Nothing’s changed from Kawhi’s side from these standpoints: He still wants to go to Los Angeles, and he’s still not interested in being rented out for one season, so that being Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto or any other team,” Carter said on First Things First on Friday (Twitter link).

Carter, a Hall-of-Fame NFL wide receiver, is an unlikely source for NBA news, though he appears to be dialed into the situation. Longtime sports agent Mitch Frankel, who represents Leonard, was Carter’s agent during his NFL playing days.

Carter relayed that Leonard’s camp has remained in contact with the Spurs and they were told by the organization that they’d be notified if the club was closing in on a deal. That hasn’t happened and no rival team has been in contact with Leonard, something that would typically happen if another team was in conversations to acquire a player in a trade.

Leonard’s camp considered issuing a press release about the rumors of Toronto making a play for him, Carter added. No such thing has since been released and the silence from Leonard’s people is partially to blame for the rampant speculation about the Raptors swooping in and acquiring the former MVP candidate, Sean Deveney of Sporting News writes.

Deveney believes that a Leonard trade remains distant and adds that it’s easy to see why NBA executives are connecting the dots between Toronto and San Antonio. GM Masai Ujiri has the ammunition to pull off a trade that provides value to San Antonio while maintaining Toronto’s status as a serious Eastern Conference contender.

Such a deal could be centered around a package of DeMar DeRozan and young prospects or picks and the Raptors have a deep enough team to give up two or three contributors and still surround Leonard with a top-ranked cast.

However, Deveney believes it would be foolish to make the trade for Leonard without assurance that he’ll stick around past the 2018/19 campaign. For the Raptors or any team outside of Los Angeles, getting that long-term commitment doesn’t appear to be in the cards. Leonard is a generational talent, but for those non-Southern California teams, the risk may be even greater than the reward and a trade seems unlikely until that ratio tilts in one of the other 27 organizations’ favor.

Atlantic Notes: Leonard, DeRozan, Russell, Watanabe

July 12th, 2018 at 9:46pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors‘ potential pursuit of Kawhi Leonard is the hottest rumor making the rounds at summer league, according to Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Toronto appears poised to join the Lakers, Sixers and Celtics as teams in the conversation for the Spurs’ star. With LeBron James out of the East, the addition of Leonard could tilt the balance of power in the race for the conference title.

Smith speculates that San Antonio would ask for DeMar DeRozan, OG Anunoby, two first-round draft choices and another player or pick. Smith suggests countering with an offer of DeRozan or Kyle Lowry, along with either Norman Powell or Jakob Poeltl, plus Delon Wright and a pair of first-rounders.

DeRozan erased his Instagram feed this week and posted the message, “We had some bumps along the way. But the reward is in the journey. I’m in my bag.” However, a source close to him tells Michael Grange of Rogers Sportsnet that there’s no significance behind the move and it’s not an indication that a trade is coming (Twitter link).

There’s more tonight from the Atlantic Division:

The Raptors have become the new odds-on favorite to acquire Leonard, notes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. OddsShark.com, a sports betting site, lists Toronto as the even-money favorite to swing a deal for Leonard.
The Nets haven’t had any extension talks with D’Angelo Russell, according to Michael Scotto of The Athletic. Russell, who was acquired in a trade with the Lakers last summer, put up some impressive numbers in first 12 games with Brooklyn before being sidelined by a left knee injury. He posted a 20.9/4.7/5.7 line on 46% shooting prior to the injury, which required arthroscopic surgery. Russell, 22, will make $7.02MM in the upcoming season and will be a restricted free agent next summer if no extension deal is reached.
Japanese star Yuta Watanabe is making a bid for an NBA job with his performance for the Nets‘ summer league team, writes Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. Watanabe averaged 9.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in four summer league games. “It’s great for me,” he said. “Great experience, but it’s still summer league. I still have a lot to go, so my goal is not here.”

Latest On Kawhi Leonard

July 10th, 2018 at 2:38pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers have “consistently remained atop the list of teams expected to land” Kawhi Leonard in a trade, Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post writes in his latest look at the Leonard situation. In Bontemps’ view, Philadelphia’s ability to acquire Leonard may hinge on the team’s willingness to add Markelle Fultz to an offer. If Fultz is on the table, it’ll be hard for another team to top the 76ers’ offer, says Bontemps.

Keith Pompey of Philly.com also revisits the Sixers’ interest in Leonard, writing that the team is confident it could convince the star forward to stay in Philadelphia for longer than one year if he’s traded. However, the 76ers are willing to walk away from the Kawhi sweepstakes if the Spurs‘ asking price remains high, as principal owner Josh Harris hinted on Monday.

“If the right situation comes where we can acquire someone that can really add value to our program and the cost of it isn’t prohibitive, then we’ll move forward and do that,” Harris said, per Pompey. “But if that doesn’t come along for whatever reason, then we’ll keep moving forward with our program.”

As Pompey details, the Spurs keep trying to “raise the ante” in Leonard talks, telling clubs that another team is offering more for the two-time Defensive Player of the Year. Pompey suggests that Robert Covington, Dario Saric, and Miami’s 2021 first-round pick would be a realistic package from the Sixers’ side, but notes that the Spurs are believed to be seeking three first-round picks in addition to those two players.

Here’s more on Leonard:

Within his look at the Leonard situation, Bontemps writes that the Raptors have “generated buzz” as a potential destination for the Spurs star. ESPN’s Zach Lowe wrote last week about the possibility of Toronto being a wild-card team in the Kawhi sweepstakes, suggesting that they could offer a package centered around one of their All-Star guards, a young player, and a first-round pick.
One aspect of the Leonard saga that frustrated the Spurs during the 2017/18 season was repeatedly believing he was on the verge of returning to the court, only to be informed he wasn’t coming back after all, per Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com. Dan Feldman of NBC Sports relays Wright’s comments on that subject from an appearance on the Back to Back podcast.
Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports rounds up several of the Leonard rumors from the last week or so in an informative article.

LeBron James Signs Four-Year Deal With Lakers

July 9th, 2018 at 7:23pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 9, 7:23pm: James has officially signed the contract, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets.

JULY 1, 7:11pm: LeBron James is headed to Los Angeles, with his agency Klutch Sports Group issuing a press release to confirm that James will sign a four-year contract with the Lakers (hat tip to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today). The plan all along, Zillgitt tweets, was to keep the announcement as low-key as possible.

According to Klutch Sports, James’ new deal will be worth $154MM, though the maximum four-year salary for a player with 10+ years of NBA experience who changes teams as a free agent is technically $153,312,846.

James’ new contract with the Lakers will start at $35.65MM, with subsequent salaries of $37.44MM, $39.22MM, and $41MM. That final year will be a player option, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, who tweets that LeBron will have the opportunity to opt out in 2021.

The four-year contract represents a departure from James’ last few seasons in Cleveland, when he signed shorter-term deals to maximize his earnings and his flexibility. He’ll be at least a Laker for the next three seasons, creating some stability for his family in Los Angeles and giving the Lakers time to build a championship-worthy roster around him.

The decision represents the culmination of a year-long saga. The Lakers, who had more cap space than any other NBA team heading into the 2018 offseason, were long rumored to be a potential landing spot for James, though several other teams – including the Cavaliers, Sixers, Rockets, Clippers, Heat, Celtics, Nuggets, and even the Warriors – were cited as possible suitors along the way.

[RELATED: More On LeBron’s Decision]

The Lakers were unable to secure a commitment today from Paul George, who will be headed back to Oklahoma City on a four-year deal of his own, but the team lands free agency’s big prize in James, who will join a roster featuring several up-and-coming prospects, including Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, and Josh Hart.

With LeBron in the mix, it’s not clear if all those youngsters remain a part of the Lakers’ long-term plans. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Kawhi Leonard remains highly motivated to become a Laker, and the Lakers may be motivated in turn to increase their efforts to acquire him in a trade with the Spurs. That would mean breaking up the Lakers’ young core.

While the Lakers’ odds of landing another top free agent like DeMarcus Cousins or Clint Capela aren’t as high now that they’ve committed $35MM+ to James and are reportedly re-signing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a $12MM deal, the team still has cap flexibility.

Accommodating James’ new max deal would reduce L.A.’s cap space to about $13.4MM, as cap experts Albert Nahmad and Bobby Marks detail, and adding KCP’s new $12MM salary would further eat into that room. However, the team could re-open substantial space by trading or stretching Luol Deng, or by renouncing Julius Randle. Deng has an $18MM salary for 2018/19, while Randle’s cap hold is $12,447,727. The Lakers will also have the $4.4MM room exception available once they use up all their cap space, which is expected to be used to sign Lance Stephenson.

[RELATED: Lakers to meet with Clint Capela]

As the Lakers complete their first steps toward a potential super-team, the Cavaliers will have to regroup now that James is leaving Cleveland for the second time in eight years. While the franchise was blindsided in 2010 when LeBron took his talents to South Beach, general manager Koby Altman and the Cavs’ front office had prepared for this eventuality by adding young, controllable players like Larry Nance, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, and Collin Sexton within the last year.

Even without a max salary for James to consider, the Cavs already have $102MM+ in guaranteed money on their books for 2018/19, a figure that doesn’t account for a new deal for Hood. Recent reports indicated that the club didn’t plan on trading Kevin Love or blowing up its roster if LeBron left, so we can assume for now that the Cavs will still aim to compete for the playoffs in ’18/19.

Although Cleveland will obviously take a significant step backward without its four-time MVP, the path to the postseason should be easier in the Eastern Conference than in the hyper-competitive West, which will welcome another All-NBA player as a result of James’ decision. Eastern contenders like the Celtics, Raptors, and Pacers will likely be thrilled to see LeBron head west.

Meanwhile, the Sixers – who met with James’ representatives earlier today – will be another team to watch in the wake of LeBron’s agreement with the Lakers. Philadelphia was the only other suitor with a significant chunk of cap room available, so the team will have to turn its attention elsewhere as it debates how to use that space.

Currently, the 76ers have nearly $27MM in space, and the team could increase that number if it waives or buys out Jerryd Bayless, who is on an $8.5MM+ expiring contract. That gives the Sixers plenty of flexibility to pursue a top free agent or to focus on re-signing J.J. Redick and adding one or two more rotation pieces.

James’ decision caps an extremely eventful first day of the 2018 NBA free agent period. Each of the top five players on our list of 2018’s best 50 free agents have now agreed to deals, though many notable names in the top 15 remain available. That list includes Capela, Cousins, Randle, Aaron Gordon, Jabari Parker, Zach LaVine, and Tyreke Evans.

Austin Kent contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Spurs Notes: Parker, White, Anderson, Leonard

July 8th, 2018 at 10:57am CST by Arthur Hill

Tony Parker wanted to stay in San Antonio, but the Spurs wouldn’t offer a multi-year deal or guarantee significant playing time, relays Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. Parker hasn’t given up on his goal of playing 20 NBA seasons, but he’ll need three more to get there and it became increasingly clear that wouldn’t happen in San Antonio.

“The Spurs will always be home,” said Parker, who agreed to a two-year, $10MM contract with Charlotte. “San Antonio will always be a big part of my life. At the end, I just felt like the Hornets wanted me more.”

Parker will have a defined role in Charlotte as the primary backup to point guard Kemba Walker. Playing time wouldn’t have been guaranteed with the Spurs, who wanted him to serve primarily in a mentorship role. Parker, who spent 17 years in San Antonio and won four NBA titles, met with longtime teammate Tim Duncan two weeks ago to discuss the decision to leave.

“I never took for granted that what we did was hard,” Parker said. “Me, Manu [Ginobili] and Tim took less money in free agency every time. It’s not easy to have a dynasty. I think some people maybe took it for granted. I don’t think what we did will ever happen again.”

There’s more today from San Antonio:

The loss of Parker should create more playing time for Derrick White, McDonald writes in a separate story. The former first-round pick can handle either backcourt position, but is being used primarily at point guard during summer league play.
The Spurs haven’t decided whether to match the Grizzlies’ offer sheet for Kyle Anderson and will probably go right to today’s deadline before making an announcement, McDonald notes in a another piece. Memphis extended a four-year, $37.2MM offer to Anderson on Friday that includes a 15% trade kicker. Anderson, 24, had a career-best season in 2017/18, starting 67 of the 74 games he played and averaging 7.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals per night. The Spurs are already near the tax line, and matching Anderson’s deal would move them about $3MM closer on top of his $6.45MM cap hold.
The decision on Anderson could provide a clue on what the Spurs plan to do with Kawhi Leonard, McDonald tweets. If they plan to keep Leonard and try to fix their strained relationship, the Spurs won’t have significant minutes to offer Anderson. If they expect to trade Leonard before the season starts, there’s no one else on the roster who can fill Anderson’s role on defense.
The Spurs made a front office move over the weekend, adding former Pistons director of player personnel Adam Glessner, according to Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link).

Latest On Kawhi Leonard

July 7th, 2018 at 6:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

Tony Parker‘s decision to sign with the Hornets won’t change Kawhi Leonard‘s desire to leave San Antonio, tweets Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports. Schultz notes that Leonard “remains irate” with Parker over what he considers a downplaying of his quad injury. However, the locker room dysfunction goes beyond the relationship between Leonard and Parker, Schultz adds.

A rival GM tells Schultz that the Spurs haven’t relented at all on their asking price for Leonard (Twitter link). The organization doesn’t care if Leonard is unhappy in San Antonio and is refusing to consider reduced offers to resolve the situation. Schultz speculates that the Leonard trade drama could last through most of the summer, just as Carmelo Anthony‘s did a year ago.

There’s more news on Leonard to pass along:

Parker tells Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated that his reported feud with Leonard was blown out of proportion. “I have no problem with Kawhi Leonard,” Parker said. “We never had an argument. When the journalist asked me if my injury was worse than Kawhi’s, I said yes because it was true. But that didn’t lessen the significance of his injury. He took over the franchise and I gave up the torch of the franchise willingly. It’s very sad that the media took one quote and made it sound like I didn’t want to play with him. He was the face of the franchise.”
If he gets traded to the Eastern Conference, the Sixers are the only team Leonard would consider re-signing with, ESPN’s Chris Haynes said in an appearance on The Jump. Los Angeles remains Leonard’s first choice, Haynes adds, but he would be open to a long-term deal in Philadelphia if he winds up there. He notes that Leonard would not be interested in a similar arrangement with the Celtics, who are another reported suitor.
ESPN’s Michael C. Wright is the latest observer to say that the Clippers have overtaken the Lakers as Leonard’s preferred destination. Speaking on his podcast, Wright says “someone who would know” tells him that Leonard doesn’t want to be “second fiddle” to LeBron James with the Lakers. Wright adds that the Spurs aren’t impressed with anything the Clippers have to offer in a potential trade.
Up to eight teams have done background work on a possible trade for Leonard, reports Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The Lakers, Clippers, Sixers and Celtics have been most prominently mentioned in trade rumors, but Kyler states that others are weighing the risks of a potential “rental” deal.

Lowe’s Latest: Kawhi, Sixers, Celtics, Scott, More

July 5th, 2018 at 3:12pm CST by Luke Adams

The Sixers have not made Markelle Fultz available in Kawhi Leonard trade talks with the Spurs, and the Celtics haven’t been willing to include Jaylen Brown in their discussions with San Antonio, ESPN’s Zach Lowe confirms in his latest article.

We’ve heard variations on Lowe’s report for the last week or two, with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (video link) recently suggesting that the Sixers don’t want to discuss Fultz, Joel Embiid, or Ben Simmons in Leonard talks, and adding that the Celtics’ top five players have been “off-limits” in negotiations with the Spurs — presumably, Woj was referring to Brown, Jayson Tatum, Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward, and Al Horford.

Lowe’s full piece on the Leonard situation features several more tidbits of note, including some items only tangentially related to a possible Leonard trade. Let’s round up the highlights…

LeBron James isn’t pressuring the Lakers to add a second star for now, according to Lowe, who says that James “has faith in the combined powers of his supernova talent and the Lakers brand.” LeBron also recognizes that Brandon Ingram has considerable upside and is aware that many star free agents could be on the market in 2019, Lowe notes.
Lowe classifies rumors that Jimmy Butler and Kyrie Irving want to play together as “credible chatter.” However, the Celtics remain confident that they’ll be able to re-sign Irving next year, per Lowe.
Details of Mike Scott‘s contract agreement with the Clippers have yet to surface, but Lowe indicates the deal will use part of the team’s mid-level exception rather than being a minimum-salary signing.
Lowe’s piece is worth checking out in full, particularly for a section in which he brainstorms hypothetical wild-card suitors for Leonard, exploring whether the Raptors, Trail Blazers, Wizards, Timberwolves, Thunder, Heat, Rockets, Bucks, Nuggets, Warriors, Pistons, or Kings might be fits — many are quick “no”s, but some generate some intriguing hypothetical deals.

Latest On Kawhi Leonard

July 4th, 2018 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

While no Kawhi Leonard trade appears imminent, reports on the star forward continue to surface. Already this week, we’ve heard that several suitors that have inquired on Leonard are reluctant to give up key young players, as the Spurs’ asking price for their two-time Defensive Player of the Year remains very high.

Here are a few more of the latest rumblings on Leonard:

Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks discussed the Leonard situation at length in an ESPN podcast, with Wojnarowski suggesting that teams making offers for Kawhi don’t necessarily hear back from the Spurs, who simply put each offer up on their “board” for evaluation.
Leonard’s lack of a traditional agent may complicate his situation, according to Wojnarowski, who notes that Kawhi is being represented by Mitch Frankel – primarily a football agent – and Leonard’s uncle Dennis Robinson. As Wojnarowski and Marks explain, a veteran NBA agent can often provide an effective back channel in trade talks as potential suitors assess how likely a player is to re-sign after being acquired. In Leonard’s case though, interested teams don’t really have a relationship with Kawhi’s camp and haven’t built a certain level of trust with Frankel and/or Robinson.
While potential Leonard suitors will be wary of his health, the Sixers may be best positioned on that front, says Wojnarowski: “Philly’s unique because one of their primary team physicians was the doctor that Kawhi went to for a second opinion in New York. I think on the surface, people go, ‘How could that be?’ But it just is. So I think it’s very conceivable that Philly has more medical knowledge of Kawhi Leonard than the Spurs do because their doctors had more access to him.”
Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports suggested this week that LeBron James‘ decision to sign with the Lakers may make Leonard more interested in joining the Clippers. However, Wojnarowski isn’t so sure that the idea of going head-to-head with LeBron in Los Angeles as a member of the city’s less iconic franchise would be all that appealing to Kawhi, who might feel dwarfed in that situation.
The Spurs aren’t yet resigned to having passed a point of no return with Leonard, according to Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News (link via NBA.com), who says that as long as Kawhi hasn’t been traded, there’s still some hope from the Spurs’ side that the relationship can be repaired.
More from Young on the situation (via RealGM.com): “Obviously [Leonard] is probably being kept in the loop as far as what the Spurs are trying to do trying to trade him, which he’s requested. They’re also sending signals like, ‘Listen, we still want to try to work this out, so if we get down to the wire and all of a sudden, Kawhi, you have a change of heart, let’s sit down. Let’s talk. Let’s try to work it out.'”

L.A. Notes: Leonard, James, Rondo, Rivers

July 3rd, 2018 at 9:27pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Spurs continue to seek a high price from the Lakers in exchange for Kawhi Leonard, salary cap expert Larry Coon said in an appearance today on Spectrum SportsNet (Twitter link). Sources tell Coon that San Antonio is asking for Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, two first-rounders and the right to swap two other draft choices. “They’re just saying give us everything,” Coon said.

Coon also outlined the Lakers’ remaining cap situation, noting that the signing of Lance Stephenson with the mid-level exception will probably be the final move in free agency after all other cap space is used up.

There’s more news from Los Angeles:

LeBron James‘ decision to join the Lakers may give Leonard more incentive to become a Clipper, Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports suggested in an appearance on Colin Cowherd’s radio show (Twitter link).
The Lakers are turning their attention to next summer for their next big free agent move, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. The organization’s emphasis on one-year deals helps explain the odd collection of moves that have come down since James committed to L.A. Sunday night. The Lakers re-signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, then reached agreements with Stephenson, JaVale McGee and Rajon Rondo, all on one-year contracts. The team expects to have about $76MM in guaranteed money next summer, possibly less if Luol Deng is waived and stretched, leaving enough to offer another max deal.
Rondo, whom Deveney states has wanted to join the Lakers since 2015, could take the starting point guard job away from Lonzo Ball, writes Sam Amick of USA Today. A source tells Amick that the L.A. front office has promised Rondo the chance to compete for a starting spot.
During an impromptu interview with TMZ, Doc Rivers explained the decision to trade his son, Austin Rivers, to the Wizards. The Clippers coach called it “the right thing for all of us” and predicts that Austin will excel in Washington.

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