Believe it or not, the San Antonio Spurs may have a hard time trading one of the NBA’s best players.
The Boston Celtics are among the teams who reportedly have talked to the Spurs about acquiring star forward Kawhi Leonard, but it appears they’re unwilling to part with Jaylen Brown or Jayson Tatum to do so.
According to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, you can add another player to the Celtics’ no-trade list.
“The Celtics are not offering Kyrie Irving. … That has not happened. I don’t think that is ever going to happen,” Lowe told coworker Brian Windhorst on Monday’s edition of “The Lowe Post” podcast.
“The Celtics are not offering any of their good stuff right now, nor should they. As far as I know.”
While a Boston-San Antonio deal felt like a stretch without Brown or Tatum involved, a Leonard-Irving swap perhaps would have made some sense, as both are entering the final year of their contracts and will receive identical paychecks ($20.1 million) in 2018-19.
If arguably the Celtics’ three best assets are off the table, though, it seems unfathomable the Spurs would deal Leonard, a top-10 (if not top-five) player when healthy, for a package centered around Terry Rozier or Al Horford, no matter how many draft picks are involved.
Of course, Boston is right to take a conservative approach; its current roster should dominate the Eastern Conference for years to come — especially with LeBron James out of the picture — so there’s no need to sell the farm for a one-year rental with injury concerns.
Leonard also reportedly has reiterated his desire to join the Los Angeles Lakers, either via trade or free agency. That means the Lakers have no real incentive to buy high on the 27-year-old if he’s intent on coming to them either way.
Long story short: The Spurs have their work cut out for them this summer.
Thumbnail photo via Soobum Im/USA TODAY Sports Images