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Kawhi Leonard remains the top name available in the NBA offseason, and the San Antonio Spurs do not appear ready to part with their star power forward for anything but a premium price.
Leonard has one year to go on his contract, and teams that don't want to meet the Spurs' price will have the opportunity to go after him as a free agent.
That may be just the route that the Los Angeles Lakers or any other potential suitor decides to take. There has been a great deal of interest in Leonard from the Lakers, and the idea of LeBron James and Leonard teaming up could give the Lakers an excellent chance of challenging the Golden State Warriors for Western Conference dominance.
NBA salary-cap expert Larry Coon reported that his sources have said that the Spurs are asking for Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, two first-round draft picks and an exchange of two additional draft picks.
While Ingram, Kuzma and Hart are not superstars, all three are functional players who made fine contributions last season. Ingram averaged 16.1 points per game, as did Kuzma. Hart averaged 7.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
That would seem to be a prohibitive price for a rental player, but the Lakers would have to contend with serious competition if Leonard becomes a free agent. Yahoo NBA insider Shams Charania said on Fox Sports Radio's The Herd with Colin Cowherd that the Los Angeles Clippers could also serve as a destination (h/t The Sports Daily's Farbod Esnaashari).
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While not as impactful as Leonard, free agent guard Jamal Crawford has received interest from the Philadelphia 76ers, according to Keith Pompey of Philly.com.
Crawford has proven his ability to come off the bench and provide an offensive contribution throughout his career. Crawford has won the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award three times in his career, and he is coming off a season with the Minnesota Timberwolves in which he averaged 10.3 points while playing 20.7 minutes per night. His 41.5 shooting percentage is not overly impressive, but it is on track with career percentage of 41.0 percent.
The Suns believe they have their shooting guard for the foreseeable future in Devin Booker, and the two sides are closing in on a five-year, $158-million extension per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com.
After drafting DeAndre Ayton with the No. 1 pick this year, the 1-2 punch of Booker and Ayton could be formidable.
Booker looks like a formidable scorer after averaging 22.1 points in 2016-17 and 24.9 points per game last year. Booker is an excellent shooter from beyond the arc, as he connected on 38.3 percent of his long shots. If Booker signs the proposed extension, he will be come the highest paid player in the team's history.
Wojnarowski also reported that swing man Tyreke Evans is close to a contract with the Indiana Pacers. The 28-year-old Evans has played with three teams in his career, and he is coming off a season in which he average 19.4 points and connected on 45.2 percent of his shots from the field for the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Indianapolis Star confirmed that Evans signed a one-year, $12 million deal with the Pacers (h/t J. Michael).