Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard will be two high profile free agents post the ongoing NBA season and a lot of teams will be gunning for the duo in order to uproot the Warriors dynasty.
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Lakers will be in the market to provide LeBron James with a superstar next to him in order to bring back the glory days to Los Angeles.
But it seems like, Clippers are trying to steal the Lakers’ thunder.
Kevin Durant proves he’s the NBA crybaby and not an option for the Lakers after comments about LeBron James https://t.co/E6tAuOPyP5 pic.twitter.com/hoRTBwfWHR
— L.A. Times Sports (@latimessports) December 6, 2018
Man, this brother @kawhileonard is something special. I’m not about to deny what I’m seeing: the best 2-way player in the game. If the @celtics are gonna challenge these boys, they’d better start getting their act together.
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) December 6, 2018
According to a report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the Clippers are planning a massive coup to land both Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard next season.
The report comes as a massive surprise as Kevin Durant had been earlier linked to Lakers and the Knicks.
Durant had also made that controversial ‘toxic environment around LeBron’ statement last week, making it very clear that joining the Lakers wouldn’t quite be a good option for Kawhi.
Now, while that initially seemed like a normal observation on part of KD, after the Clippers report, it seems as if KD was doing some recruitment of his own.
Winhorst has reported that Clippers have been sending executives to a lot of Warriors and Raptors games.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has a master plan … and it involves both Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant, writes @WindhorstESPN.https://t.co/BfmVFQzj07
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) December 12, 2018
The Clippers have a “bold” plan to land Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard this upcoming summer (ESPN)
— NBA RETWEET (@RTNBA) December 12, 2018
Infact, a Clippers executive has been present at 75% of Raptors games this season, as the Leonard scouting is being done with some purpose.
With respect to their roster, the Clippers are clearing things up in order to have two maximum contract slots for the 2019 free agency.
While KD might actually look for a move elsewhere, having achieved everything that he wanted to with the Warriors, Kawhi might actually want to stay back and see what the Raptors can achieve, considering the rich vein of form that the team has been in this season.
While anything could happen next season, KD’s comments about no top player wanting to play with LeBron seem to have a deeper meaning now.
Does he know about what the Clippers are planning and thus wanted Kawhi to maybe leave the Lakers out of his consideration set in case he decides to leave Raptors and search for shelter elsewhere?
Kawhi and KD would form an able partnership for the Clippers and could help in countering the Lakers and the Warriors next season.
Do you see Kawhi and KD teaming up in LA and spoiling the deal for LeBron and the Lakers?
