Kawhi Leonard 'Seriously Considering' Lakers, Per Stephen A. Smith

Once the Lakers cleared enough cap space yesterday to get another max or near max player, it was a foregone conclusion that they would set their sights on Kawhi Leonard. But the idea that Kawhi would play for the Lakers has been more farfetched — why would he want to be the second or third wheel behind LeBron James and potentially Anthony Davis when he’s won championships as the focal point of multiple teams?

But Stephen A. Smith swooped in on Get Up this morning, and said twice that he has heard that Kawhi is “seriously considering the Lakers”:

Two factors in why Kawhi would conceivably do this, Stephen A. said, were that New Balance would really want it to happen (duh) and that the weather in Los Angeles happens to be nicer than in Toronto.

Marc Stein also indicated last night that the idea of Kawhi is a “target” for the Lakers:

But Jalen Rose, who has emerged in the last year or so as someone whose opinions are reliably guided by proprietary information in relationships, didn’t think there’s any way Kawhi chooses the Lakers over the Clippers and Raptors. Stephen A. then clarified that his Lakers intel is not “definitive” and went into a very entertaining monologue:

I find myself in a very odd position where I simultaneously can’t wait for all the chips to have landed in NBA free agency but also never want it to end.