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What's the story?
Marc Stein of the New York Times reported in his weekly newsletter that at this point, the San Antonio Spurs are not looking to trade their superstar forward Kawhi Leonard. That could change in the future, though.
In case you didn't know...
Leonard has only played nine games on the 2017-18 season where he averaged 16.2 points per game. The last game he appeared in was against the Denver Nuggets on January 13th.
The heart of the matter...
Stein put it bluntly, essentially stating that things are not good between the Spurs and Leonard right now. There is no communication between the two sides, and Leonard is currently rehabbing his quad injury with his own team of doctors in New York instead of the Spurs' medical staff.
An insider with the Spurs recently spoke with Stein regarding the potential of trading Leonard. Take a look at what the insider said below:
"One well-placed insider who has closely monitored this situation told me recently that the Spurs continue to give off signals behind the scenes that they won’t trade Leonard."
The ultimate deciding factor in all of this is if the Spurs are willing to give Leonard a max deal. They will need to feel comfortable with the relationship between the two sides as well as comfortable with the prioress of Leonard's quad injury.
The estimated max deal for Leonard would be for six years and worth $219 million.
What's next?
The Spurs have more immediate things to worry about as they are now down 2-0 to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. Game three takes place from San Antonio on Thursday evening and will be broadcasted on TNT.
Author's take...
The more stories I see on this situation between Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs, the more I believe the relationship is not salvageable. We know the Spurs are going to ask for the moon in a trade to get Leonard, and it will be very interesting to see which teams shuffle things around to try and get a deal to work.
