How would you feel if Kawhi doesn’t go to the Lakers?

[UNO Gracias]

I enjoy listening to the podcasts of our rivals (as well as our own), and I have listened to a few different Laker podcasts since the AD trade. The hubris that these podcast hosts have about their greatness, and how they are a lock to land Kawhi and rule the NBA for the next decade really has me hoping that Kawhi spurns the Lakers. I don’t hope for any harm to people, but I would love to see those guys strike out and pull a 180 from how dominant they will be with Kawhi to how they don’t need him and they will still win titles.

[UNO Gracias]

By the way subscribe to the following podcasts, and your life will dramatically improve:

Locked in Pelicans
Bourbon Street Shots Podcast
The Bird Writes Podcast
The Lowe Post
Locked on NBA

[Mythrol]

If I was Kawhi and never planning on going to the Lakers, or if I had already made up my mind, then I'd have handled everything the exact same way as Kawhi.

Who's one of the biggest threats to me repeating with Toronto or if I go to the Clippers? The Lakers with AD + Lebron and 32m in cap space.

What can I do about that? Drag out my decision while giving neutral statements to keep teams on the hook and not spend their cap space. Then once all/most of the free agents are signed elsewhere I announce my decision to keep the team from being able to fill up their roster with quality players.

I'm not saying this is what he's doing, but it'd be a mad genius move if he did.

[Pelicanidae]

I wouldn't be surprised, but I'd be very slightly smug about it.

I don't think he's going to the Lakers. I don't have any evidence for that, it's just gut feeling, so I very well could be wrong.

Given the circumstances of our interactions with the Lakers though, particularly over the last 7 months or so, there's no doubt that there'd be a lot of joy to be taken from them failing to secure the only player on the market who could possibly make them into title favourites.

When the trade went through, and the details came out, a lot of us were pretty happy with all the picks and stuff. We said to ourselves, wow, this is a decent deal! You never win the trade when you lose a top 5 player, but we certainly didn't LOSE it either: we did really well. Great! The Lakers gave up so much, they must be regretting it. And their fans said ''no, we don't care: we gave up all our youth and our draft picks, but it will be worth it for the new banners''.

Well, what happens when they give up everything, AND fail to get the banners? That would be very funny, and a good ''f you'' to AD for the way he went about his exit. Kawhi is the only way for them to become title favourites until 2021-22 at the earliest. If they miss on him, that's it for them, in terms of being sure-fire contenders.

[RaisingTheBar]

My care level for NBA would take a huge hit.

[HartOfaPelican]

For me it’s two fold.

1 - as an NBA fan I don’t not want a mega super team like that in the nba. I hate the super team trend that there currently is and this would only make it worse.

2 - as a total LeBron hater for a decade and for what he did to my Lakers a do not want him to have success.

[JJackisangry]

It would potentially be very good for our draft picks if LALA land was thrown into chaos, but I think he will choose the Lakers. You never want to give Lebron time to jibber jabber in your ear, and Kawhi is doing just that.

[Pelicanidae]

It would potentially be very good for our draft picks if LALA land was thrown into chaos, but I think he will choose the Lakers. You never want to give Lebron time to jibber jabber in your ear, and Kawhi is doing just that.

On one hand, that's fair enough.

On the other hand, Kawhi strikes me as the least influenceable human being in the NBA.

''But Kawhi, if you come to LA, I'll put you in my movie! You can have tons of TV commercials, we'll get your face on a billboard!''

''....what's a movie?''

[UNO Gracias]

Yeah, I don’t think Lebron or AD are going to swing Kawhi, the guy wears New Balance shoes and doesn’t know how to laugh for Pete’s sake. That guy is not letting anyone bend his ear in one direction or the other.

[Imnos 2]

It wouldn't bother me either way. The Lakers are on a different time schedule than us. All these super teams change and last two or three years at most. Plus we'll have our own super team in the future. We'll have cap space to build our own in a couple years. Right before Zion's next contract. Maybe Giannis? Beal? Plus Zion.

Anyways I don't expect the Lakers to be great for a decade. Three years, tops.

[JJackisangry]

On one hand, that's fair enough.

On the other hand, Kawhi strikes me as the least influenceable human being in the NBA.

''But Kawhi, if you come to LA, I'll put you in my movie! You can have tons of TV commercials, we'll get your face on a billboard!''

''....what's a movie?''

I appreciate Lebron as a player, but I can’t wait until this obnoxious, poisonous and narcisstic toad is out of the NBA. If the Lakers miss out on Kawhi and his late legacy bursts into flames, you will find nobody happier. I think Kawhi is set on returning to LA, and I can’t imagine him signing for the Clippers after they missed out in FA. This is all regardless of Kawhi’s personality. I’d pick the Lakers over the Clippers personally. Not over the Raptors

[luckyman]

I would just lose all respect for Kawhi if he did. I don't know what happened to "if you want to be the best you have to beat the best"

Now they all just tug on the big man's shorts and ask if they can play with him. Beta male sucker move. There has to be some type of real competitive spirit. At least pick a city that has never won a championship versus one that has 16 already.

So respect gained if he chooses the Clips or Raptors again. If not, I'll only watch the Pelicans and not a single minute of anything else NBA related.

[JJackisangry]

I would just lose all respect for Kawhi if he did. I don't know what happened to "if you want to be the best you have to beat the best"

Now they all just tug on the big man's shorts and ask if they can play with him. Beta male sucker move. There has to be some type of real competitive spirit. At least pick a city that has never won a championship versus one that has 16 already.

So respect gained if he chooses the Clips or Raptors again. If not, I'll only watch the Pelicans and not a single minute of anything else NBA related.

He should by all means stick with the Raptors since they just won a title and can probably do so again, but you go where your odds are the best. The Lakers are better than the Clippers at this point unless Lebron breaks both balls and Anthony snaps like a twig. All this beta crap is silly. He is a FA and made it clear that he might not stay with the Raptors.

[Pelicanidae]

I would just lose all respect for Kawhi if he did. I don't know what happened to "if you want to be the best you have to beat the best"

Now they all just tug on the big man's shorts and ask if they can play with him. Beta male sucker move. There has to be some type of real competitive spirit. At least pick a city that has never won a championship versus one that has 16 already.

So respect gained if he chooses the Clips or Raptors again. If not, I'll only watch the Pelicans and not a single minute of anything else NBA related.

I agree with most of what you're saying, but I just don't think this is the case to do it in.

Kawhi going to LA, if he did choose to do so, is nothing like KD going to Golden State, or something similar. He'd hardly be riding coat-tails.

When Durant went to Golden State, that is, when he ''tugged on the big man's shorts and asked if he could play with them'', it was because they had already been to two finals. He had choked, allowing them to get to one of them. They had beaten him. They were already championship calibre, and didn't need him, whereas he had never won anything on that level before going there.

If Kawhi goes to the Lakers, he isn't tagging along to a championship team. Without him, this Lakers team may not even make the playoffs. They missed the playoffs last year. He's already a 2x Finals MVP, having already won the Raptors their first franchise championship, and is largely responsible for destroying two separate NBA dynasty teams in Miami and Golden State. Kawhi has nothing left to prove. He's not riding any coat-tails.

I'd hate it if he went to the Lakers, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it's a betrayal of ''if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best''. He's already beat the best, twice. He can do whatever he wants now.

[PELICANSFAN]

I think it clearly would be riding coat tail. Why else would he go there over the Clippers if his main focus was to be in LA?

[Pelicanidae]

I think it clearly would be riding coat tail. Why else would he go there over the Clippers if his main focus was to be in LA?

We must different definitions of riding coat-tail. For me, if you're riding someone else's coat-tail, you're the tag along. KD on the already-championship-winning Warriors.

Kawhi would be no tag along. He would be the championship maker. With him, they'd be championship favourites. WIthout him, they might not even be a playoff team. He wouldn't be walking into a ready-made winner and just tagging along for the ride. He'd be walking into a team that hasn't made the playoffs in 7 years, that probably isn't a playoff team as it is anyway, and turning them into a championship contender. That's not riding coat-tails. That's wearing the coat.

[PELICANSFAN]

The Warriors were certainly in a much better position then than the Lakers are currently. However, KD was the star of the NBA when he went to the Warriors. He went to a team that, with him, would clearly dominate the NBA for years. That is what Kawhi would be doing, tagging up with the clear favorite to win the championship with him aboard. The Lakers are certainly a playoff team without him, but clear favorites with him.

[Pelicanidae]

The Lakers are certainly a playoff team without him

I don't believe that's a certainty.

[JJackisangry]

I don't believe that's a certainty.

One injury and they are boned. Even with Kawhi, that could be a deciding factor in whether they make the playoffs or not.

[RaisingTheBar]

I don't believe that's a certainty.

I feel like with LeBron and AD and all the other guys who will go there on cheap deals (Iggy) they will make the playoffs. Even if each of the bigger starts misses ~15 games each

One injury and they are boned. Even with Kawhi, that could be a deciding factor in whether they make the playoffs or not.

I think that a huge selling point to Kawhi will be that hey each of the big 3 can probably get away with playing only 50 games each and being completely rested and healthy for playoffs.

[Pelicanidae]

One injury and they are boned. Even with Kawhi, that could be a deciding factor in whether they make the playoffs or not.

It's partially the injury risk, it's also partially to do with the strength of the West.

Without Kawhi, the best possible team the Lakers can field is not great. A starting lineup of something like Rondo/KCP/Lebron/Kuzma/AD, with zero bench is a real possibility.

For them to be a playoff certainty you would have to believe that team is definitively, certainly, confidently better than at least 7 of the 15 teams in the Western Conference. Is it? I don't think so.

[Pelicanidae]

I feel like with LeBron and AD and all the other guys who will go there on cheap deals (Iggy) they will make the playoffs.

Iguodala isn't even a free agent. If Memphis wanted to get rid of him, they'd probably trade him, and if he were to be waived by Memphis, LA wouldn't even have waiver priority on him. There's absolutely no reasonable motivation for just assuming Iggy would be a realistic option for LA right now.

[JJackisangry]

It's partially the injury risk, it's also partially to do with the strength of the West.

Without Kawhi, the best possible team the Lakers can field is not great. A starting lineup of something like Rondo/KCP/Lebron/Kuzma/AD, with zero bench is a real possibility.

For them to be a playoff certainty you would have to believe that team is definitively, certainly, confidently better than at least 7 of the 15 teams in the Western Conference. Is it? I don't think so.

It depends how hard Lebron declines. I hope it’s one of those scenarios where they make the playoffs and keel over in the 1st round. That way they end up with a dodgy draft pick whilst getting absolutely nowhere. We don’t even have their pick this year, so it would be the best possible outcome.

[6warddude]

if he dont go to the lakers i would be glad for the NBA and us fans because this coming season would be open to any team to win the title meaning that no one can say that a certain team will win the title this season coming......the regular season and playoffs will be fun to watch for the first time in a while for alot of fans lol.....

[RaisingTheBar]

Iguodala isn't even a free agent. If Memphis wanted to get rid of him, they'd probably trade him, and if he were to be waived by Memphis, LA wouldn't even have waiver priority on him. There's absolutely no reasonable motivation for just assuming Iggy would be a realistic option for LA right now.

Well it's reported he will be bout out not waived and wants to go to Lakers.