In another round of his Woj bombs, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said the Washington Wizards were among the handful of teams that had talks with the San Antonio Spurs about a potential trade for superstar Kawhi Leonard.
“Still, the bidding war among Boston, Philadelphia and the Lakers never materialized. The Los Angeles Clippers, Denver, Phoenix, Portland, Toronto and Washington are among teams who’ve talked with San Antonio, league sources said.”
The Wizards have already had an impressive retool by adding Dwight Howard and Jeff Green in free agency and Austin Rivers in a trade that sent the disgruntled Marcin Gortat to the Los Angeles Clippers. Adding a Leonard would be icing on the cake for general manager Ernie Grunfeld, who has been under fire as of late for his roster mishaps.
The Wizards make total sense in being an Eastern Conference team that the Spurs reportedly prefer to send Leonard. Washington has one notable available asset in Otto Porter, who happens to be the team’s highest-paid player going into the 2018-19 season at a little over $26 million. Porter is a prime age of 25 and has a high ceiling for potential to develop into a star, especially if he were to be shipped to a great developer in San Antonio coach Greg Popovich.
Leonard is set to make just shy of $21 million next season, so a straight up deal may not be in the cards, if San Antonio were interested. Washington does have other young assets such as Kelly Oubre and Tomas Satoransky, however, with Porter making more money than Leonard and the Spurs being over the luxury tax, San Antonio would need to fork over another player that makes a bit over $1.6 million, if Porter was the only return.
The deal gets complicated per CBA rules if Oubre or Satoransky were added with both making over $3 million next season. However, Oubre could be a targeted piece in the deal for both sides, considering the Wizards may have difficulty re-signing Oubre at a reasonable price next summer.
One would guess all-stars John Wall and Bradley Beal would be off-limits. Hard to imagine the Wizards trading either one of their cornerstone players for a possible one-year rental.
Before getting excited about the possibilities, keep in mind the complications of the deal along with the question marks about the health of Leonard’s quadriceps injury that created this circus of a mess between he and the Spurs. Also, there is the fact that reports suggest that Leonard is keen on heading to his hometown Los Angeles to play for either the Lakers or Clippers next season when he becomes a free agent no matter what team he is traded to this season.
Still, all of this is speculation and one that only fans can ponder over. There is no telling right now what stage their talk(s) went between the Spurs and Wizards. But, one thing that can be noted that Grunfeld has put forth an effort to improve the roster around his two star players much of the summer even when top choices were not available. Engaging on the interest in getting Leonard only adds to the suspense.
