3 Landing spots for Kawhi Leonard in 2019 Free Agency
Kawhi Leonard has just been traded to the Raptors and has passed his physical. He will be joining the team along with Danny Green from the San Antonio Spurs.
Although things seem to have settled for the moment right now, the future of Kawhi Leonard is far from decided. For one thing, he is not a happy camper moving to Toronto. So here's a look at three teams that could land him in the unrestricted free agency in 2019.
The San Antonio Spurs will not be a part of this conversation given the bad blood between them and Kawhi. They will have to settle for landing DeRozan and hope they can rebuild around him and Aldridge.
#3 Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are one of the few teams with the kind of players that can attract Kawhi Leonard in Free agency. With a core built around Irving and Hayward, they are set to achieve a lot this season. If they end up becoming conference champions or winning it all, that would be a huge incentive for Kawhi to join a championship culture. If winning rings is part of Kawhi's motivations, then he ought to seriously consider a move to the Celtics.
Playing in the easier Eastern conference will help Kawhi's chances after having played in one of the toughest divisions in the NBA for the entirety of his career. Playing for an organization as storied as the Celtics is motivation enough for most players and Kawhi will seriously consider it too come 2019.
In terms of fit, Kawhi would slide right along Tatum and Brown as another elite wing defender who can also score. He is not a high usage player so he can be on the floor at the same time as Kyrie and Hayward. His defence would help the already stingy Boston defensive unit. It could potentially be the answer to the Golden State Warriors' offence.
The Celtics had enough tradeable assets to get Kawhi this offseason but chose not to do so because of apprehensions about his health and his long-term desire to stay with the club. They won't have those problems in 2019 and will present a full deck to Kawhi to try to land him.