Why, out of curiosity? Hayward seems like a very Spurs type of player--good all-around, smart player. Hayward alone obviously wouldn't be great, but Hayward plus the Lakers' pick and another top young player, like Brown, would be a really strong offer.
But was LA's departure about going to play for Kawhi or was it because it was the best team in his home state and Pop/Duncan were fondling his balls all July?
Well, for one Hayward hasn't shown what he is capable of post injury AND he is making like 30 million a year now, big huge risk. San Antonio just isn't the type of organization that takes that type of risk at that price.
Well, they'd need to send talent back to San Antonio--wing talent could be part of that return. It's more that players like Leonard aren't available very often. If you can get him, I think you do that and try to balance the roster either in that trade itself or in a subsequent one.
Why is this so hard? 3 years ago there was not a unique situation with LA as a FA... Jalen says: "We never say who's going to San Antonio to play with Kawhi." When he's one of the people who reported TT going to San Antonio in FA... TT was the biggest FA on the market at that time.
SA would demand Tatum and I guarantee you they don't budge on him. SA IMO wouldn't want Heyward and Jalen Brown ain't enough.
If you think San Antonio wouldn't budge unless they get a Tatum-like asset, that simply means that Portland has no shot, as they have no asset of that caliber. I mean, ultimately, I don't think the Spurs would trade Leonard but, if they do, I think a team like Boston or Philadelphia finds their way to a package, and Portland really can't create one that would make sense.
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/1/23/16924576/kawhi-leonard-trades-shootaround The best part of this is the Dame / PA exchange: “How about this,” Lillard says. “Explain to me the last, like, five years of this franchise. I’M 27. I DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME LEFT. I NEED HELP OUT HERE. EVAN TURNER AIN’T IT. ALSO I’M MAD AT C.J. FOR REASONS.” Allen and Dame lock eyes. A fraught silence fills the room. “Say no more,” Allen says. He picks up the phone.
The reasonwhy is twofold. One is they've been unable to attract elite level, All-NBA caliber free agents. You think he would like playing with the Blazers?
He does seem to be locked into an endless loop with this response. Might be time to dump the old Windows 7 machine and switch to Mac.
Teams will not be offering massive haul to get him when they know he expires after next season. He is obviously better than them but look at what teams got for Irving, Butler and Cousins - it wasn't really THAT much at first glance. The offer for Kyrie was probably most impressive but it was still based around a pick of a bad team in a league full of tanking teams so likely not even top 5, an injured player who has great offense but zero defense and an average wing. Spurs will be looking to get more for Kawhi but it won't be that much more that they can get.
