NBA Trade Rumors: Latest Buzz on Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James and More
Friday looms large for the NBA.
A simple sentence yet an important one, as 11:59 p.m. ET Friday is the deadline for LeBron James to decline his player option with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Normally this wouldn't register as such a huge deal, as James opting out has seemed like a foregone conclusion ever since he arrived back in Cleveland. But the ruined relationship between Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs and the possibility of a trade complicates matters—and that's putting it lightly.
Besides the Leonard chase and its impact on James and the league as a whole, there is at least one other interesting new trade tidbit making the rounds, so let's take a look.
DeAndre Jordan
While far from the biggest name on the market, DeAndre Jordan's budding situation could play a big part in how the Western Conference plays out next year.
Jordan, abandoned by Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, unsurprisingly seems to want away from the Los Angeles Clippers and could end up with the Dallas Mavericks.
According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Clippers and Mavericks have engaged in trade talks surrounding the center, who faces the same deadline as James when it comes to his player option.
Stein noted the Clippers have signed off on Jordan's representatives to "explore trade scenarios with other teams as they weigh the pros and cons of opting into the final season of Jordan’s current contract..." ahead of Friday.
If a trade doesn't occur, Jordan could make life difficult on the Mavericks again by heading to the open market.
For Dallas, it's not hard to see why they would like a 29-year-old center who averaged 12.0 points, 15.2 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game a year ago. Not only is he a solid veteran leader, he's more affordable and predictable than the market's top center, DeMarcus Cousins.
Should a trade fail to happen and Jordan hits the market, though, he might look for a contender after watching the last one fall apart around him.
Leonard and the Celtics
As of now, don't expect Leonard to end up with the Boston Celtics.
Boston seemed an obvious choice for a destination, at least. Sam Amick of USA Today had reported the Spurs don't want to trade him to a team in the Western Conference, which left the Cavaliers, Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers as possible serious suitors.
Boston stuck out among the group because the Spurs will want as many future-looking assets as possible while coughing up one of the league's best players. The Celtics front office has made a habit of hoarding those assets and has an excess of developing players they could offer.
Alas, the Boston Herald's Steve Bulpett reported recent contact between the two franchises went nowhere.
"It was the first contact between the teams since before the draft, but even those talks did not include the C's making an offer," he wrote. "That brief call, according to two league sources, went nowhere."
This could all change, of course. Besides prospects such as Jaylen Brown, the Celtics own the top-eight-protected pick of the Memphis Grizzlies in 2019 and the No. 1 protected pick belonging to the Sacramento Kings in the same draft.
Though Friday seems close, it's a long time for negotiations like this to happen, and it still seems like the Celtics can offer the Spurs more than most.
Kawhi and the King
While reporting the Celtics were one of a few teams who had made an offer to the Spurs, Ramona Shelburne, Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst of ESPN offered up another must-see nugget: Leonard landing with the Lakers can likely secure James as well. It makes sense, then, that the Lakers have reportedly offered the Spurs a "godfather" offer, according to Amick.
After originally revealing the Lakers and Spurs have restarted discussions, the ESPN report noted: "The stakes on these talks are enormous, because the teams believe a deal for Leonard would likely clinch a free-agent commitment out of LeBron James to the Lakers."
As expected, it sounds like the Spurs will ask for a huge return. They aren't just losing a superstar, they're losing one to another Western Conference team and also inviting James to join the fray as well, which is about as bad as it gets.
But one can start to see where the Lakers might have a chance at pulling this off. According to the reporters, they haven't signed first-round pick Moritz Wagner because it will allow them to trade his rights. They also note Los Angeles is poking around the league looking for another first-round pick to acquire in exchange for taking on salary.
Los Angeles has every right to panic here. Not only is the front office staring at the Friday deadline and the chance James decides to go elsewhere in a hurry—or stay in Cleveland—there doesn't seem to be any guarantee hometown kid Paul George will ditch the Oklahoma City Thunder and come to town.
That leaves Leonard, but the Spurs could always deal him elsewhere, and risking the player making himself a rental before coming to town in free agency isn't a good strategy to bank on, as seen with George already.
In a way, Leonard could end up being more important than James on the market, at least in the sense he'll be the first domino to fall if L.A. can make something happen.
But the Lakers need to pull off something borderline historic or they run the risk of once again receiving plenty of pre-market hype before falling short of nearly impossible expectations.
