Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard is celebrating his 27th birthday today, but he has a lot of questions facing him going into this next season, the most pressing being exactly whose team is he going to be on.
His current team, the San Antonio Spurs wished Leonard a Happy Birthday earlier Friday, which is a bit awkward because the relationship between player and team is less than ideal.
Happy Birthday, Kawhi #GoSpursGo pic.twitter.com/cH5uQCqmMk
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) June 29, 2018
The race to land Kawhi seems to be heating up as the Los Angeles Lakers seem to be the most likely option. If the Lakers were to trade for him, that would give them a heads up for a few reasons. It would probably help them land LeBron James, and it could give them a leg up on the Los Angeles Clippers next offseason.
Article Continues BelowAccording to Stephen A Smith, Leonard doesn't care which team he goes to in Los Angeles, he just wants to be in the city.
“Although the Lakers are his preferred destination, he has no qualms about going to the Clippers if the Clippers were able to pull off something,” said Smith. “Their goal is to be eligible in free agent next year with enough cap space to go after him. If he were to end up a Clipper just to be back in Los Angeles, he would love to be back in Los Angeles. The Lakers are the preference, but he doesn’t particularly care whether it is the Lakers or the Los Angeles Clippers. He just wants to be back in L.A.”
It was a nice gesture for the Spurs to wish Leonard a Happy Birthday on Twitter, but the best birthday gift they could give him would be a trade to Los Angeles.