Welp.....
Bullshit - they all negotiate
When you are talking about players at Kawhi's level, it's a negotiation only in the most technical of terms. Both sides know that the team is going to pay whatever the player says they want up to the max allowable.
Kobe's last contract "negotiation" went how virtually all of these types go:
The Lakers offered Kobe a 2 year max deal.
Kobe asked "Will we have enough to bring in another top guy?"
The Lakers said "Yes"
Kobe said "Sounds good"
The Lakers said "Sign here"
Negotiation over.
Welp.....
Just ignore all that Shit I said about Pop taking the best deal, even if it's from the Lakers....lol
Bullshit - they all negotiate
It is amazing you can spend so much time on these boards and still be so clueless.
It is a matter of leverage and Kawhi has it all in free agency.
He can say whatever he wants. But if the Lakers lowball him and he isn't okay with it, there will be at least 25 other teams ready to step up and offer max money. The Lakers know this, as does Kawhi. If he wants max money he will get it.
I'm waiting for a Lakers fan, most likely on twitter, that will say Pops beg the Lakers to take Leonard off their hands for Kuzma, but the Lakers declined because they didn't want to put the kid in a bad situation.
Shit. We already had one of my fellow Lakers fans on here try to say Ingram for Kawhi was enough.
I missed that
The Spurs would be dumb not to at least threaten other teams with the possibility of trading with the Lakers, even if there's not a realistic possibility. The Lakers are willing to give up the most because they're Kawhi's preferred destination. The idea for the Spurs is to get a franchise other than the Lakers to offer up something resembling equal value, while the idea for the Lakers is to keep the lowball offers coming in from other teams in order to force the Spurs to panic, thus the report where the Clippers and Lakers are questioning Kawhi's health knowing damn well they would both love to have him.
It's essentially a game of chicken. Will other franchises flinch first and offer up a deal similar to what the Lakers are willing to give? Or will the Spurs flinch and either take the deal with LA or get fleeced by another team?
If Leonard really wants to go to the Lakers, they should just wait and get him without giving up anything.
They keep their young players and get to ensure Leonard is fully healed by playing a full season before signing him.
No reason for the Lakers to jump the gun. That is something little Buss would do. If this FO does something stupid like that, it will be no different than the previous one they are still trying to recover from
They improved their win total over last year and went 24-20 over the last 44 games of the season. They may have played well enough to be attractive to some top FA's and even if they don't get them, the fact that they are being discussed as seriously as they are speaks to what many think of what they've done.
So yes, I'd say they've drafted pretty well.
The Lakers are on the move as they acquire a pick from Philadelphia and may select the players or put together a package deal to move up as teams are wanting to move down.
Lakers Reportedly Trade 2019 2nd-Round Pick to 76ers for No. 39 Overall Pick
Lets just agree the Lakers = dirty
Not necessarily.
That contact was made before Pop met with Kawhi. The reports since that happened have been that they would deal with the Lakers if the Lakers have the best offer.
Having said that, even if the Lakers have the best offer, I'm not sure the Spurs take it. Not because it's the Lakers or it wouldn't be a good offer, but because it's not the only option.
Unless the Spurs just decide they want the drama to just be over (which I could see them doing) they can wait until the trade deadline to deal him.
If they do that, they could force the Lakers into having to decide whether they want to sign both Lebron and PG or try signing one of them and waiting for Kawhi.
If they sign both Lebron and PG they will have stretched Deng, effectively freezing them out of the Kawhi sweepstakes because they won't be able to get far enough under the cap.
Of course the downside to that is they get Kawhi drama until the trade deadline and unless some team is desperate enough to take a flyer on him, they could end up being faced with having to take a worse offer or see him walk for nothing.
But the upside is they can possibly get a bigger haul from a desperate team.