Kawhi Leonard’s short-term landing zone has been the topic of much debate and speculation. But what about the long-term LZ? What might be acceptable looking further down the road?
New York?
Quite a few things were happening around the NBA as Friday the 13th came and went, with DeMar DeRozan’s Instagram account suddenly dark, Jeremy Lin now the property of the Atlanta Hawks, Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur now ensconced in the BK after the Nets made themselves a parking zone for Denver’s bad contracts, and Jabari Parker moved down I-43 from Milwaukee to Chicago. (If Giannis doesn’t like playing with you, the MKE is not welcoming.)
Those moves changed the salary cap space landscape of the NBA, but the entire league was still left wondering: What does this mean in terms of Kawhi?
A straight-up two-team trade of Leonard to the Raptors for DeRozan made some sense on a few levels, but not on others.
DeRozan fits the Pop profile: A guy who keeps quiet, can play within a system and has a USA Basketball pedigree. He is locked up long-term, and his acquisition would give the Spurs an All-Star in return for an All-Star, which is better than anything Philadelphia can do in terms of quality over volume.
But for the Raptors, is would be a roll of the dice for Masai Ujiri. There have been no indications that Leonard would accept a long-term solution anywhere other than Los Angeles or Philadelphia, but the guy driving that bus is known as Uncle Dennis (Kawhi’s quasi-agent, Dennis Robertson). And what was acceptable to Leonard last winter — spending his time in New York while his quadriceps standoff with Pop played out — might provide the biggest clue as to where this soap opera may lead over the next 12 months.
Midtown Manhattan as Kawhi’s LZ?
Well, we know this much: It is one of his comfort zones.
When she was not trying to be a revisionist historian in Las Vegas this past week after being elected to another four-year term, Players Association executive director Michele Roberts was not being asked any questions about what role she and her staff played Leonard’s mysterious disappearance last season.
From what I have been told, Leonard spent more than a few afternoons at the headquarters of the PA, where a full-court gym is available to all NBA players and all NBA teams for workouts, shootarounds, and everything in between. There is an athletic trainer available every day, a full weight room, etc. The place is pretty much the most exclusive health club in the five boroughs.
And with the Knicks having the cap flexibility to bring in two max players next summer, it will be tabloid backpage headline writing heaven for the speculative souls whose puns are part of New York newspaper lore.
The popular names that have been out there have included Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler, but pretty much half of the NBA will be free agents next summer when many of the binge-spending deals from the summer of 2016 (did you realize that Timofey Mozgov is making twice as much money as the recently signed Jusuf Nurkic) can start being wiped clean.
If you don’t think the Knicks would be interested in Leonard, you should take some blackjack lessons from someone other than Charles Oakley.
Kyle O’Quinn left New York for Indianapolis because he did not want to be all-in on waiting for June 2019, which pretty much sums up what the folks who have lived under Jim Dolan’s ownership/tutelage have endured for the better part of two decades: A waiting game, built around the notion that the next savior — along list that has included Carmelo Anthony, Larry Brown, Phil Jackson, and so many other would be messiahs — is going to be Mr. Panacea, and he is going to bring all of his buddies along.
The Knicks were set to go all-in at the trade deadline to acquire players to put alongside Kristaps Porzingis to get the team into the postseason, but then an ACL situation developed and Plan A was torn up, too.
A timetable for Porzingis’ return is not known, and probably will not be known until the winter chill has started to descend on Latvia, which happens in September in that latitude. Porzingis’ surgeon, Dr. David Altchek, said Porzingis’ ACL tear type has ‘the best prognosis’ for healing because there was no cartilage or ligament damage. A February return seems most likely.
Fizdale will head to Latvia next Sunday to meet Porzingis. On the visit, Fizdale plans to sit with Porzingis and show him a lot of film, according The New York Post. He wants to show him summer-league footage, too, how he and Knox can become a dynamic duo for the next several years. “It’s going to be a big part of the next step to show him the big picture,’’ Fizdale said of his trip. “How I want to utilize him, coach him, start building a relationship with him, a bond with him, a connection with him.”
That bonding voyage will be of little solace to those who would like to see a winning product in November, December and January, and it remains a toss-up as to whether the NBA schedule makers will backload New York’s season with home games in March and April in the same manner they frontloaded it to make things easier for the ‘Bockers last fall.
Whatever the case, there is no hope, OK? Yes it will be nice to see Kevin Knox as a rookie. Yes, Enes Kanter will forever be entertaining both on a basketball and political level. And yes, Dave Fizdale will be a breath of fresh air after Jeff Hornacek lost the team last season — which is what happens to practically every NBA coach whose players know he is on the final year of his deal.
But when you are missing a unicorn, it’s kind of a massive hole to fill.
And so the Knicks will be an outlier when it comes to night-in, night-out excitement. They currently sit at 2,500-to-1, the same odds as the Mavericks (which is unfair to Dallas and its Rookie of the Year candidate, Luka Doncic.)
But there is always next season, which brings us back to Kawhi.
A deal between the San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors seemed imminent a couple days ago, with most books dropping The North to Most Favored Nation status. (BetDSI.com has the Raptors at +150 as part of the “field,” with Philly first at +200). But Leonard does not want to be in Toronto long term, preferring Los Angeles or Philadelphia.
His camp is propagating that notion, but as we have discussed before, Gregg Popovich is driving that bus. And Leonard will go to whatever team Pop trades him to, on Pop’s timetable, not Kawhi’s.
If it is not one of the two Los Angeles teams or the Sixers, it seems likely that Leonard will be a rental. But guys have their minds, as LeBron James and Paul George have taught us this month. And if a mind change is in store for Leonard, living in New York is not unreasonable.
He did it last winter when reason took a long, long holiday. And he did it in NYC.
He likes it there.
Sometimes, that’s all that it takes.
Betting Odds: Will The San Antonio Spurs Trade Kawhi Leonard?
