Western Conference early free agency moves put OKC Thunder on high alert
By Rylan Stiles
Both L.A. teams are involved in the Kawhi Leonard sweepstakes, and either team getting Leonard shakes up the entire Western Conference
The L.A. teams are in the same situation for the most part after the first 24 hours of free agency.
The Lakers are admittedly in the better spot. They have two of the best players in the NBA in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The problem is they do not have much beyond that. It took half their team and assets to acquire Davis but pairing him with one of the best to ever play the game is worth it.
Now the Lakers are in line to try and lure away Kawhi Leonard in free agency from the World Champion Toronto Raptors.
If the Lakers can create a three-headed monster of Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Kawhi Leonard along with a nice player in Kyle Kuzma it does not really matter who the cast of characters around them are. Unless the team sustains injuries then their season would be effectively over as soon as Leonard were to ink his name on the dotted line for the Purple and Gold.
In the initial day of free agency, the Lakers remained silent in hopes of landing their big fish in Leonard. But even if they miss out on Kawhi, there will be no shortage of players on the open market wanting to jump to the Lakers side of Staples.
Clippers also await Kawhi’s decision:
The Clippers are in a similar spot, they brought back Patrick Beverly who turned down a larger contract from Sacramento to return to the Clippers despite being on the Mavericks radar as well.
The Clippers are also in the three-team race for Kawhi Leonard which to re-iterate would seriously shake up the Western Conference.