NBA Trade Rumors: Should the San Antonio Spurs Deal Kawhi Leonard This Summer?
ESPN's Brian Windhorst recently reported that some NBA teams are going to inquire about Leonard at the end of this season
The biggest surprise of this NBA regular season isn't the Cleveland Cavaliers going through a midseason makeover or Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid remaining mostly healthy and elevating his level of play. No, the real surprise of this NBA season has been Kawhi Leonard missing most of the year for the San Antonio Spurs.
To be clear, it was expected that Leonard would be out of action for at least some portion of the season, but no one thought he would only be available for such a short period of time — currently, he's tallied 210 total minutes played across nine games, per Basketball Reference — for the Spurs.
Now, there's obviously still a chance that he will come back for the playoffs and resume starring for the Spurs, but the fact that his availability still remains uncertain at this point is certainly not a good thing for the franchise.
This situation with Leonard has now lingered on for so long that there are real questions being asked over whether the Spurs will hang on to the 26-year-old forward.
Some NBA teams may even be getting ready to pounce on this situation in the hopes of landing a potential franchise star.
Speaking recently to "Outside the Lines," ESPN's Brian Windhorst shared that at the end of this season, there will be NBA teams placing calls to the Spurs and asking about Leonard.
The question now is, should the Spurs entertain those queries?
The first thing the Spurs need to know before they decide what to do with regards to Leonard is to find out his actual health status. The Spurs are built to contend now, and ideally, for them, Leonard would be the one leading their efforts.
If Leonard is healthy or will be healthy by next season, then the Spurs could regroup this summer and try to contend again.
It's not that simple, however. Leonard's prolonged absence has prompted questions about whether he wants to remain with the Spurs long-term.
With only one guaranteed season remaining on Leonard's contract after this season, this summer may very well be the ideal time for the Spurs to look into trading him in the hopes that they can get prime assets in return for a player who may end up leaving eventually anyway.
Sure, trading Leonard for possible draft picks and/or young talents would set the Spurs' contention clock back, but that would still be preferable to losing a franchise star for nothing.
To put it simply, if the Spurs believe that there is a real chance that Leonard will leave as a free agent, then it would be best for them to act this summer while they still have some control over the situation.
If the Spurs opt to wait until the summer of 2019, then they will lose that control and Leonard can walk out the door, and leave a void that's impossible to fill in the middle of the team's roster.
It's never easy for any NBA team to trade a franchise player like Leonard, but the Spurs may need to do exactly that, or else they may end up in terrible shape long-term.