Kawhi Leonard has been linked to the Los Angeles Lakers amid the Aspiration scandal, but so far it's mostly noise, and the LA Clippers – due to bad blood between ownerships and city rivalry – might not want to trade him to the purple and gold.
While Kawhi Leonard has been linked to the Los Angeles Lakers amid the Aspiration scandal, the two-time NBA champion and seven-time All-Star might be farther from joining the Lakers than some believe.
NBA reporter Jovan Buha offered some perspective on the situation between the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers.
"Right now, I think a lot of this is just noise and chatter. I'm not reading too much into it," Buha stated on his podcast.
The LA insider explained that there is some "bad blood" between the two teams, not surprising given that they are city rivals.
"There's a little bad blood there, I would say, between the ownerships," Buha said. "Like, I don't think it's two franchises that like love each other."
Credit AP - Scanpix
For context, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss once nicknamed Clippers owner Steve Ballmer "Ballz," and the Lakers still have some "egg on their face" from the Ivica Zubac trade with the Clippers.
"I don't think the Clippers would love trading Kawhi to the Lakers," Buha noted. "And at that point, if you're forced to trade him, I think the league's not gonna be like, 'You have to trade him to the Lakers, you have to trade him to team X.' It's gonna be, 'Alright, let's get into a bidding war here.'
"Now, the Lakers can bid high. They have three picks, and they have the cap space," he added. "So maybe that's enough to entice the Clippers, depending on what that potential trade package looks like. But for now, I think it's just noise, and until we have clarity on what the potential punishment is going to be, I think it's nothing more than that."
Leonard, 34, is a Los Angeles native. He has been playing for the LA Clippers since 2019.
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