With free agency set to begin Sunday, the NBA’s rumour mill is in full swing.
Here’s a look at some of the newest activity, including the latest in the Kawhi Leonard saga and the Summer of LeBron kicking off in fine form.
Spurs “ready” to move on from Kawhi
Just a day after an ESPN report came out saying there was “pressure mounting” on the Los Angeles Lakers to get a deal done for disgruntled San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard, it would appear that the Lakers are indeed making push, along with their traditional rival Boston Celtics.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Spurs are “fully engaged” in Leonard trade talk with multiple teams, including the Lakers and Celtics.
Adding further fuel to the fire, The New York Times’ Marc Stein reports that San Antonio is now “ready” to move on from Leonard, bolstering the idea that a trade could be coming sooner than later.
With that said, Wojnarowski hasn’t ruled out the Spurs holding onto Leonard and drawing the process out in the hopes of repairing their relationship with the All-NBA forward, especially because he says the Celtics are likely to take a cautious approach to Leonard.
In other words, while we still don’t really have a good idea where Leonard will end up landing, one thing we can look forward to is even more delicious drama.
LeBron texting KD?
Speaking of drama, ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith is basically made a career off stirring it up and making NBA fans’ heads spin and on Thursday he was in fine form with a LeBron James rumour that’s liable to make you blow a gasket just thinking about the possibility.
“I got two phone calls last night after hours with folks telling me that LeBron James reached out to Kevin Durant,” Smith said. “LeBron James reached out to Kevin Durant, from what I’m told, about coming to Los Angeles.”
An earth-shattering possibility for sure but fear not super-team haters, according to Smith, there’s no way something like this is happening because he believes Durant wants to surpass James.
“Behind the scenes Kevin Durant was like, ‘Why would I do that? As far as I’m concerned LeBron James is a big-time player, what have you, but the way I look at it I should be perceived as the best in the world. I’m the reigning two-time champion, I’m the reigning two-time NBA Finals MVP, why would I think about doing something like that?’”
Then again, we have seen James team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and Durant with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
This is the NBA. Don’t count anything out.
LeBron just followed Jayson Tatum on Instagram
And on this same line of thinking of not counting anything out, we return to James’ royal court of drama and a curious thing seen on Instagram.
Found on the NBA’s subreddit by intrepid user “adam_jc,” James gave Celtics rookie Jayson Tatum a follow on the social media platform.
Now, this obviously could mean absolutely nothing, but given the fact James has a history of cryptically-coded social media use, it’s not crazy to read into this a little, particularly because James has been complimentary of Tatum in the past.
Again, this is the NBA, anything can happen.
Trevor Ariza to meet with teams in free agency
Though he isn’t a superstar, Houston Rockets swingman Trevor Ariza will be among the top wing players on the market and, according the Yahoo Sports’ Shams Charania, he’s already making plans to meet with several interested teams when free agency opens on July 1.
At 32-years-old Ariza is a reliable veteran three-and-D player who is likely to be in demand. He has spent the last four seasons in Houston.
Kanter opting in
New York Knicks centre Enes Kanter is leaning towards exercising his $18.6-million player option for this coming season, ESPN’s Ian Begley reports.
Kanter has until 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday to make his decision. Should he decide to opt in he will be set to become an unrestricted free agent next July.
Kanter averaged 14.1 points and 11 rebounds 71 games played with the Knicks last season – his first with New York after getting traded from the Oklahoma City Thunder in September as part of the Carmelo Anthony deal.
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