Getty Former Los Angeles Laker Magic Johnson.
If you were one of the unfortunate souls that called it a night before the Kawhi Leonard news broke yesterday, you surely had a lot of catching up to do this morning. Kawhi going to the Los Angeles Clippers wasn’t completely out of left field, but absolutely nobody saw the Clippers trading for Paul George coming. It’s a crazy end to a crazy offseason and the NBA just became unbelievably interesting. The wait for the season is going to be unbearable.
The Los Angeles Lakers are the biggest loser out of all of this because they were all-in on Kawhi and he turned them down for the team that they share an arena with. The optics aren’t great and the Clippers adding Paul George, who also spurned the Laker last year, adds salt to the wound. That being said, the Lakers still have plenty to be excited about.
They added superstar big man Anthony Davis and were able to pick up a few solid contributors along the way. The tandem of LeBron James and Davis is definitely as good as the Kawhi and Paul George tandem. The problem is, the Clippers’ new tandem is younger and will likely have more longevity. Once James leaves town, Davis will be left on his own unless the Lakers add another superstar before James calls it a quits. The most frustrating thing about this for Lakers fans is that we could be having a very different conversation today if they handled things a little differently.
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Magic’s Conversation With Kawhi Leaking Hurt Lakers, Says Analyst
During the early stages of free agency, reports that former Laker Magic Johnson had spoken with Kawhi Leonard on the phone about a number of things. The problem is, Kawhi didn’t want those details known to the public. When Magic was running basketball operations for the Lakers, they were extremely leaky. It doesn’t take a CIA agent to figure that Magic leaked the conversation himself so that he could take all the credit if the Lakers were able to get Kawhi to sign. However, that blew up in his face and now Fox Sports analyst Cris Carter is reporting that details on Magic’s conversation with Kawhi leaking hurt the Lakers chances.
All the information that leaked from Magic’s conversations with Kawhi team didn’t help the Lakers case.
Cris Carter has been one of the most well-connected people when it comes to Kawhi Leonard news, so he’s definitely a source that can be trusted. Kawhi is a notoriously private person and it was known that he wanted to see what teams he could trust throughout the free agency process. The fact that the Magic conversation leaked so quickly seemed to have led to the downfall of their chances of signing him. There are likely more reasons and Cris Carter noted that Kawhi didn’t want to form a super team, but now the Lakers will have to share a building with the man that ruined their free agency plans.
Kawhi wasn’t in favor of forming another super team after taking down the Warriors.
Despite the Clippers getting two superstars, the Lakers will be greatly improved this upcoming season with the addition of Anthony Davis. We may be witness to one of the greatest rivalries in sports for years to come. The Lakers have all of the glamor and history, but the Clippers have the better front office and coaching staff. Plus, they just added two of the 10 best players in the world. The Lakers may feel like losers, but basketball fans, in general, have to feel like winners.
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Leak of Magic Johnson’s Conversation With Kawhi Leonard Hurt Lakers [Report]