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After acquiring Anthony Davis over the weekend the Lakers are going to make a strong push to sign Kawhi Leonard and it appears that the Raptors superstar may be interested.
Lakers expected to pursue Kawhi Leonard in free agency, per @KevinOConnorNBA pic.twitter.com/NpuoZquZ3D
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 16, 2019
According to Former NBA player/assistant coach Damon Jones, someone in Leonard’s camp told him that the Lakers are going to be “in play” if they can free up enough cap space to sign him.
"Kawhi Leonard is now in play for the Lakers."
–@D19J says after having a conversation with someone close to the situation, it's a possibility. pic.twitter.com/MOoRHMpj78
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 17, 2019
After the AD trade on Saturday, I had a conversation with somebody that’s close to the situation that said Kawhi Leonard is now in play for the Lakers,” “Now there’s a lot of things that have to happen. The Lakers have to clear the cap space, although Kawhi Leonard right now is still contemplating if he’s going to go back to Toronto. And if he does that, it’d be on a shorter deal.”
FS1’s Cris Carter also went on to report that Kawhi would consider the Lakers during free agency but that the Raptors were still the favorites to re-sign him this offseason.
.@criscarter80 reports that Kawhi Leonard will consider the Lakers, Clippers, Raptors, Knicks and Nets in free agency, with Toronto as the current favorite. pic.twitter.com/JotbqLNF8H
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) June 17, 2019
Unfortunately, the Lakers might not have enough cap space to sign Kawhi or another superstar to the team.
For now, expectation is Anthony Davis trade will be completed on July 6, league sources tell @BobbyMarks42 and me. Assuming Davis declines to void $4M trade bonus, this leaves Lakers with $23.7M in space. There is chance that could be amended to July 30, but it’s still 6th now.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 16, 2019
If Pelicans and Lakers waited until July 30 to complete trade, Lakers could’ve had $32.5M in cap space — enough to pursue a max level free agent. By waiting 30 days, Lakers would be acting like a team over the cap and thus allowed to use 4th overall pick in draft as salary. https://t.co/BdKtxFtvai
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 16, 2019
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