C’s won’t overspend on Kawhi
While we’ve spent nu- merous hours on the phone trying to track down details on any Celtic involvement in the Kawhi Leonard affair, most of what’s been learned could have been deduced through simple logic.
San Antonio has seemingly come to the conclusion that trading Leonard would be the best play to run, but it cannot afford to let him go without a reasonable return. Because of that, the Spurs have looked to the Celtics for the solution.
Your local outfit isn’t just a strong team, it’s also the repository of some of the league’s best assets. While Golden State has more valuable top-tier players, the Celts are the better bank with young talent (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier) and draft picks (futures from Sacramento and Memphis).
It’s understandable that the Spurs would want to shop here, but the C’s aren’t about to perform major surgery on a roster that is in position to regenerate from within over the next several years as Brown, Tatum and others develop. There’s also the fact the Celts got within a Game 7 crash of making it to The Finals this year without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.
Sure, the Celtics would love to have Kawhi Leonard in their uniform. There’s not a team in this league that wouldn’t. But as we’ve noted in every story about him, uncertainties about his health (the quadriceps injury that limited him to nine games this season — not to mention the disagreement between Leonard and the Spurs on whether he was able to play) and his option to become an unrestricted free agent next summer make him an acquisitional risk.
So the Celtics aren’t about to spend big for what could possibly amount to a one-season rental with health questions. By giving what the Spurs would like (young stars, draft picks), the C’s might be able to make a better run for a championship this season. But 201920 could turn out to be a real problem with Leonard and Irving having the option next summer to skip the last year of their deals and enter the market.
Thus, even if you could take a step forward in the present — and that’s up for some debate if you lose some key depth — would it be worth giving up what would appear now to be a rather lengthy window of opportunity to contend?
Again, from what we’ve heard, Tatum and Brown are not available, and it would take the right overall transaction pieces to interest the Celts in putting the Sacramento pick on the table.
Absent the Celtics’ willingness to move key young pieces or the Spurs deciding to accept less than what a Leonard without medical or contractual issues is worth, there seems to be nothing to indicate an agreement.
The bottom line is that the Celts would be willing to make a great deal for Kawhi Leonard. A good deal probably isn’t enough.