NBA teams reportedly planning to contact the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard
What's the story?
ESPN's Brian Windhorst was a guest on Monday's edition of Outside The Lines where they discussed what is going on with Kawhi Leonard.
It was then where Windhorst revealed that several teams are starting to prepare for pitches to the San Antonio Spurs for their superstar forward.
In case you didn't know...
Due to his injured quad, Leonard has only played in nine games this season between the middle of December and middle of January.
Of those nine games, he never played on back-to-back nights.
He averaged 16.2 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game in those games.
The heart of the matter
When it came to the question of what's going on, Windhorst said it was a "simple question with a complicated answer."
There are definitely disagreements between Leonard's camp and the Spurs while Leonard continues to rehab his injured quad with his own team of doctors in New York instead of the medical staff of the Spurs.
Windhorst confirmed that he has talked with several NBA general managers and after this season, they will call the Spurs to inquire about the availability of Leonard via trade.
Leonard will not become an unrestricted free agent until after the 2019-20 NBA season, but there is a player option for after the 2018-19 season.
Even though there is tension between the two sides, Windhorst does believe the most likely scenario will be that Leonard signs a long-term extension to stay with the Spurs.
What's next?
The Spurs (45-32) are currently sitting in fourth place within the Western Conference, but only three games ahead of the ninth-place Denver Nuggets with five games left.
San Antonio travels to Los Angeles on Tuesday night to play the Clippers (41-36) who are currently in tenth place and only four games behind the Spurs.
Author's take
It all comes down to if the damage of the relationship between the Spurs and Leonard is reversible or not.
The Spurs are one of the best-run organizations in the NBA right now, and it is a shock to see this sort of discord between the team and its star player.
I'm guessing teams are going to have to give up a LOT of draft picks as well as a superstar of their own if they want a chance of landing Leonard, and even then, it might not be enough.