The only team we know of that has had extensive conversations with Kawhi Leonard is the Los Angeles Lakers. As it turns out, the fact that we know that may be a bad sign for their chances of signing the NBA Finals MVP.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was asked on “Get Up” Wednesday morning about the meetings Leonard has had with teams, and he said very little is known about them because that is how Leonard’s camp wants it.
“Teams have simply been told this: If information on your presentation gets out, you’re really imperiling your chance of signing Kawhi Leonard,” Wojnarowski said. “You understand why teams are keeping this so private. His camp has not allowed that information to really get out.”
It could simply be that the Lakers are the most popular team in the hunt, but there have been several reports about their dealings with Leonard over the past week. We know that Kawhi spoke with Magic Johnson, and many of the details of that conversation have been made public. While Johnson is no longer in charge of the Lakers’ basketball operations department, he is still an ambassador for the team.
For what it’s worth, NBA reporter Ric Bucher appeared on FOX Sports 1’s “The Undisputed” on Wednesday and essentially said the same thing as Wojnarowski — that Leonard’s camp doesn’t want media leaks and the Lakers may be hurting themselves if they’re contributing to those.
In addition to the info about Leonard’s talks with Magic, there have also been repeated reports that the Lakers feel they are in the lead to sign Kawhi. If they’re hoping to influence him by putting that information out themselves, it may end up having the reverse effect.
