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The San Antonio Spurs and Gregg Popovich have not made Kawhi Leonard happy for the last year or so. But Popovich and company are looking to try to make Kawhi “happy” with the eventual trade they include him in.
"Kawhi in meeting with Pop, Pop gave him every indication that he was going to trade him & he was going to try to make Kawhi happy."@criscarter80 reportspic.twitter.com/aqnV7ZLstl
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 10, 2018
This makes sense for the Spurs. On one hand, they should be trying to get as much as possible out of a Kawhi Leonard trade. But on the other hand, if they trade Leonard somewhere he doesn't want to be, they may not get the best possible deal.
It wouldn't make sense for a team to trade away a wealth of assets for a player that they may only have for one season. But if Popovich and the Spurs trade Kawhi to a place where he can be “happy” then the team will have a great chance to have Leonard for longer than one season.
Finding a suitable trading partner is going to be a balancing act for Popovich. He's caught between a rock and a hard place.
This may drag on through the summer and a trade might not be met until closer to training camp. It's always hard to find equal value for a superstar. It's even harder when that superstar is holding the organization hostage like Leonard is.
This is eerily similar to the Kyrie Irving situation in Cleveland last season and the Cavaliers were the clear losers of that deal despite trading Irving to a preferred destination. Popovich is hoping to avoid making that same mistake, but for now, he's committed to making Kawhi happy.
