SAN ANTONIO,TX - FEBRUARY 28 : Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs sits on the bench in street clothes during a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at AT
Could Utah Jazz be one of the ‘vultures circling’ around Kawhi Leonard?
ESPN’s Zach Lowe mentioned that several teams were circling like vultures around the San Antonio Spurs regarding Kawhi Leonard. Could the Utah Jazz be one of them?
Without a doubt, one of the most intriguing story lines of the NBA season has been the odd Kawhi Leonard saga. From varying injuries, missed return dates, issues with the San Antonio Spurs organization, negative comments from his teammates and a million rumors and speculations in between, his status has been quite unclear.
And it remains that way to this day. There’s still a very good chance we won’t see him suit up for the Spurs again this season at all; even once the 2018 NBA Playoffs get underway.
With the rather shocking tension that has been brewing between Leonard and his Spurs team, it should come as little surprise that many are questioning whether or not there will be a divide between the two parties. If the drama is as bad as many have made it out to be, why would the Spurs want to keep him around?
After all, when healthy, Leonard is undeniably one of the greatest talents in the league. Thus, they could get a hefty return in exchange for him rather than have him waste away in street clothes on the bench.
Personally, I think there’s more to this than we know and there’s still a chance that Kawhi and the Spurs figure things out and he comes back healthy next year to be a dominant force for San Antonio once again. Then again, if I’m wrong on that, it would make perfect sense for the Spurs to look to go a different direction with their superstar.
Several teams around the league apparently feel that such is a viable possibility and for good reason. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, “several NBA general managers…will call the Spurs and inquire about the availability of Kawhi Leonard” at the end of this season. Even if San Antonio has the situation under control and has no desire to part with Leonard, you can’t blame opposing teams for looking into this as there is legitimate logic that would lead one to believe that the Spurs may be willing to part with Leonard for the right price, especially if they know he wants out.
I don’t necessarily like referring to my team with this vernacular, but I loved the image that ESPN’s Zach Lowe portrayed in the tweet below, when he compared teams and GMs preparing to pursue Leonard to ‘vultures circling.’
And it got me thinking, could Dennis Lindsey and the Utah Jazz perhaps be one of those vultures in the hunt for Kawhi Leonard?
In an ideal situation without concern about egos, dollar bills or giving up assets for Kawhi, adding him to a formidable Jazz roster is an impressive thought. Who would be able to put up enough points to win against a defense that featured Ricky Rubio, Donovan Mitchell, Leonard, Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert? Not to mention, Joe Ingles, Thabo Sefolosha and Royce O’Neale waiting in reserve?
Not only that, but while Leonard is praised for his defense, he’s also an excellent scorer who would take Utah’s offense to another level by potentially taking some focus off of Mitchell and allowing both he and Leonard to be offensive nightmares for opposing teams.
If Leonard were a free agent this offseason (he’s not) interested in playing in Utah in 2018-19 (probably doubtful) and was completely injury-free (who knows), this would be absolutely the win of all wins for the Jazz. However, with just one year remaining on his current contract before he hits free agency due to a player option and is in for a colossal pay raise, unless the Jazz have some good intel on being able to wrangle Leonard away and keep him long-term, I don’t see them truly being in the mix to land him.
However, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t one of the so-called vultures, anxious to inquire on the nature of the situation. As a former Spurs exec himself, Lindsey obviously has some ins with the team and would be foolish to not at least see what he can discover about the status of Kawhi. If the Spurs are looking to deal him, then the Jazz have to at least look into what it would take.
Again, San Antonio is likely not going to give up one of the best players in the league unless the situation is completely beyond repair. Even if it is, there’s two major obstacles that would get in the way for the Jazz’s ‘scavenging’ pursuit. The first is having enough that they’d be willing to give up to get the Spurs to pull the trigger, the second is believing they could successfully keep and pay Leonard beyond 2018-19.
With no lottery picks in the foreseeable future and without the disposition to give up either Gobert or Mitchell, I don’t see a way a deal gets done in the first place. Furthermore, it’s been presumed in the past that the Spurs will look to extend Kawhi Leonard a super-max contract that would pay him upwards of $200 million this summer.
The Spurs can offer him more money than any other team, which would be further incentive for Leonard to work things out and stay put, but the fact of the matter is whether it’s with San Antonio or not, he’s going to be in for a big raise once he hits free agency. That means, if the Jazz were to somehow steal him away, not only would they give up assets for him for potentially just one season, only to have him leave in unrestricted free agency, but to keep him around they’d have to dip deep into their bank account.
Of course, you get what you pay for and depending on what Utah does this summer, they’re setting themselves up nicely to have a significant amount of financial flexibility in the offseason of 2019 with only about $49 million on the books for the 2019-20 season right now (including Mitchell’s option which they’ll obviously pick up and not counting Dante Exum who will likely be re-signed this summer).
Maybe if Leonard were to do well with the Jazz in 2018-19, they would feel confident in getting him to stick around beyond that and would have the space to pay for him, despite how much he’ll be worth. If that all added up, that dream scenario I mentioned earlier may very well turn out to be an awesome reality. A core of Mitchell, Leonard and Gobert would certainly be in the championship discussion.
But before I get too far off into dream land, let me remind you of the two obstacles — first, getting the Spurs to deal Kawhi in the first place, particularly for what Utah would have to offer, and second, getting him to stay if that were to take place. Quite frankly, if Utah likes their chances of keeping Leonard long-term, they’d probably be better off just hoping that something goes awry with the Spurs and he’s available as a free agent in 2019.
Just to make it clear one last time, all of this is a long shot. But when you’re talking about nabbing an elite talent like Kawhi and elevating your team to championship contender status, you have to take that shot, no matter how minuscule it is.
In other words, while Dennis Lindsey could very well be one of the vultures that Lowe referred to, anxious to see what he can discover, if he’s circling around San Antonio looking for a meal, there’s a very good chance that he’ll end up going hungry. But he still should absolutely be on the look-out.
Fortunately, one thing I stated that wasn’t a long-shot or a pipe dream is the fact that Utah has ample financial flexibility for the offseason of 2019. And luckily for them, Kawhi is far from the only option.
It’s impossible to know what the future will hold two seasons down the road for the Jazz, but rest assured that there are exciting times ahead, both in the immediate and not-so-distant future.
