NBA 2018 Rumors: Will the San Antonio Spurs Hang On to Kawhi Leonard Past This Summer?
The San Antonio Spurs find themselves in the most unenviable of spots for any playoff team.
After losing the third game of their best-of-seven first round series with the Golden State Warriors, the Spurs are now in a 0–3 hole and they would essentially need to pull off the most improbable comeback in NBA playoff history to make it to the next round.
It's difficult to see that happening, and within the next few days, the Spurs will likely be eliminated from the playoffs, valiant in defeat, but defeated all the same.
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Could things be different for the Spurs with star forward Kawhi Leonard active and playing? It's possible, but the Spurs haven't really seen much of Leonard on the floor this season.
Leonard's prolonged absence from the team combined with his still-mysterious status has prompted all kinds of rumors that the franchise may be open to trading him this summer.
At the moment though, the Spurs appear resistant to the idea.
In a recent newsletter, the New York Times' Marc Stein passed along some information that came from a "well-placed insider" who noted that the Spurs are still signaling that they do not want to trade Leonard even behind the scenes.
Because Leonard remains under contract with them through the 2018-19 season, the Spurs don't have to trade him this summer, but whether they will maintain that position when teams present them with offers is difficult to determine at this point.
One team that could reportedly present the Spurs with trade offers for Leonard are the Los Angeles Lakers.
A recent report from the Sporting News features some comments from executives around the league who are starting to think that the Lakers are going to make a push for Leonard.
The Lakers don't have that many draft assets to entice the Spurs with, but what they do have are some intriguing young talents in Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Julius Randle. The Lakers probably won't include all of Ball, Ingram and Kuzma in a deal, but they may be amenable to building a trade package around at least one of those players.
If the Spurs cannot patch things up with Leonard this summer, then they may not have that much of a choice. Not trading Leonard then would be incredibly risky for them as he can just leave the following summer.
Even if the Spurs are unwilling to trade Leonard at this point, things will likely change if it becomes clear that the 26-year-old forward has no real plans to hang around in San Antonio that much longer.
This season has not gone well for the San Antonio Spurs, to say the least, and with its end seemingly in sight, the members of the team's front office are going to need to make difficult decisions sooner rather than later.
In all likelihood, this current campaign will end with Leonard not in uniform and not playing for the Spurs, and next season may very well start off that way, too, as the versatile forward may then already be with a different team.
