San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard has done everything outside of publicly declare that he wants out of town. Leonard basically missed all of the 2017-18 season and the All-Star forward has gone through different back channels to express his dissatisfaction with how things are going in San Antonio. Leonard’s complaints stem from how the Spurs run the organization, how they handled his injury and other veteran players voicing their frustration with how Leonard handled the last 14 months.
So with Kawhi on his way out of town, where does he go next? All signs show that Los Angeles is where he wants to go with the Clippers being the preferred landing spot right now following the Lakers addition of LeBron James. But it appears that the Spurs, still hesitant to make a deal just to make a deal, don’t value the Clippers assets.
Mike C. Wright of ESPN was a guest on the Back to Back Podcast on the ‘Count the Dings’ Network. On Thursday’s ‘Nerder She Wrote’ show, Wright talked about Leonard’s preferred landing spot.
Tom Haberstroh: “So which team does Kawhi suit up for next year? Who do you think is the leader in the clubhouse to get his services?”
Mike C. Wright: Well, contrary to, and I don’t know if it’s changed. I think that’s what happened. Things have changed. But the Lakers are not Kawhi’s preferred destination anymore. He wants to go to the Clippers. He doesn’t want to go and be second fiddle to LeBron. That’s what I was told. And I was by somebody that would know. And so right now, the Clippers are where he wants to go. But I’m also told, like you know, I talked to people within the Spurs organization and they’re like ‘well yea he wants to go to the Clippers but their assets are shit at this point’. That’s what I was told.
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Wright: The Spurs demands on a trade are just… I wouldn’t say unrealistic but teams are not gonna do that deal right now. They’re just not.
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Wright: “I’ve been told like the Lakers are saying ‘Hey, we really want to do this deal but we ain’t crazy. We can’t give you all that”
Wright would go on to discuss the potential of a trade and what assets both the Lakers and Clippers could offer the Spurs. Wright did say he thinks the idea of being second fiddle to LeBron does have a bit of posturing because, at the end of the day, Kawhi wants to be in Los Angeles. Both franchises recently edged up in the 2019 NBA championship futures after this report.
“Now he wants to be a Clipper, first he wants to go to LA… He just wants to be in LA. That’s what I was told. He just wants to be in LA.”
You can listen to the episode here on the ‘Back to Back’ podcast.
