NBA Trade Rumors: Latest on Kawhi Leonard, Dennis Schroder and More
After opening with a bang, the volume of the 2018 NBA free-agency market has dropped all the way to sporadic whispers.
But with free agency stalling, that has boosted the trade chatter around the Association.
The latest murmurs involve a former MVP runner-up, a potential two-headed monster at point guard and a pair of 21-and-under players perhaps tagged as untouchables.
Kawhi Prefers Clippers Over Lakers?
Short of quitting your day job and monitoring the situation full time, I'm not sure how anyone can make sense of the Kawhi Leonard-San Antonio Spurs rift.
It's not just that things like this never happen in the Alamo City, things like this seldom happen anywhere. The story is so strange that a quadriceps injury limited Kawhi Leonard to nine games over the past 12 months, and that's no longer the main focus of this plot.
We want to know where Leonard's future will be, since San Antonio sounds like it's out. Los Angeles is the most common setting mentioned, but even then there's debate inside the city itself.
ESPN.com's Michael C. Wright appeared Thursday on the Back to Back podcast on the Count The Dings Network and said Leonard has his sights set on the Los Angeles Clippers.
"He doesn't want to go and be second fiddle to LeBron [James]." Wright said. "That's what I was told. I was told by somebody that would know. So right now the Clippers are where he wants to go."
That sounds like a clear advantage for the Clippers.
The problem is, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski had the Lakers as Leonard's favorites on a recent episode of The Woj Pod (h/t LakersNation.com). And before that, Yahoo Sports' Shams Charania said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd that the Clippers were in the lead (h/t NBCSports.com).
It seems like the more information we hear on this, the less we actually know.
It sounds like Leonard wants to get out of San Antonio and back to his native L.A. There's no consensus on his opinions beyond that.
Hawks Could Keep Schroder for Now?
Dennis Schroder's days with the Atlanta Hawks have long seem numbered.
He has talked about playing elsewhere. They have drafted their floor general—and franchise face—of the future in Trae Young.
A trade is almost certainly coming at some point.
But the Hawks won't do a deal just to get one done. As Yahoo Sports' Jordan Schultz reported, the Hawks haven't found a good enough offer yet and could roll ahead with Schroder and Young together if they don't:
This could easily be posturing in the face of a bleak market. Potential landing spots for Schroder are few and far between.
The New Orleans Pelicans reportedly discussed him, per WDSU's Fletcher Mackel, but they're worried about his legal problems and already added a point guard this summer in Elfrid Payton. The Phoenix Suns have shown "no interest," per ESPN's Zach Lowe. The Orlando Magic share mutual interest with Isaiah Thomas, per HoopsHype's Alex Kennedy.
The Hawks might have trouble giving Schroder away in this climate, which might be the genesis of this update. Atlanta still needs to move him, but it hopes to find something for its top scorer and distributor from last season.
Jaylen Brown, Markelle Fultz Off Limits?
Curious about the hold-up in the Leonard trade talks? Glancing through the names reportedly made off limits might explain.
Sure, no one would expect the Philadelphia 76ers to move Ben Simmons or Joel Embiid or the Boston Celtics to part with their 20-year-old playoff leading scorer Jayson Tatum. But even the next tier of assets has been kept away from the negotiating table.
The Sixers haven't included Markelle Fultz, sources told Lowe, knowing they can attack the 2019 free-agency market if their current Leonard pursuit falls short. Lowe also hears the Celtics won't discuss Jaylen Brown and thinks they'd keep Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward out of the deal, too.
At that point, what's the incentive for San Antonio to deal?
While there's risk in keeping a disgruntled player on an expiring contract, there's also a standard that must be met when trading away a top-five talent. Assuming Leonard gets back to full strength, he's a 27-year-old with two Defensive Player of the Year awards, a Finals MVP honor and a season-long scoring average of 25.5 points (on 48.5/38.0/88.0 shooting) on his resume.
The Spurs can't move him without bringing significant assets back. But they might have a hard time finding them if the likes of Brown and Fultz are being kept away.
