It's not all that often in which a blockbuster trade happens and you're left debating which side is the bigger loser as opposed to which side is the bigger winner, but credit to the most muted malcontent in the history of professional sports for turning himself into the beach front property in a hurricane hotspot of NBA assets. By doing so through the flapping gums of his Uncle, Kawhi Leonard basically put both his employer and his perspective suitors in a position in which to somehow look stupid for both trading a superstar as well as acquiring one in a league in which doing either should set you up extremely nicely for the foreseeable future. He didn't play much basketball this season, but his hushed efforts as an easily-influenced enigma were quite impressive. From the Spurs' perspective, you can't be totally content with the outcome here. Getting back an All-Star, albeit a lesser one, limited the damage and if there's someone that can coach the absolute most out of a foreign born first rounder then it's Gregg Popovich. Still, getting merely as many contributing players as you gave up, and having nothing more than a highly protected pick to show for it is not anywhere close to the heist that trading a top five talent should net you. The truth is, the Spurs probably could have coaxed a better deal out of the Lakers had they been more timely and willing to make a bold, in-conference move that gave their resident toddler his proverbial pacifier. That said, regardless of the return, the inevitable flipping of a Finals MVP and a DPOY was bound to leave San Antonio supporters feeling as though they just got done listening to Charles Barkley harshly critique their city and the collective diet of its women. From the Raptors' perspective, I'm pretty sure their offseason has been the most scathing indictment of just how miserable it is to be mediocre in the NBA. Keep in mind that the following is all following a season in which they finished atop their conference. Toronto has now axed the league's Coach Of The Year for the relative unknown that was working under him and parted ways with a homegrown, long-tenured face of the franchise for a one year rental who is just as likely to hobble into the witness protection program with a fake limp as he is to happily play out his contract. Personally, I would have stood pat with one of the few stars that has wholeheartedly embraced playing outside the states to take another run at the East knowing that it had finally been exorcized of their own personal demon. After all, risking the fate of your franchise in hopes of getting an actual commitment from Kawhi Leonard is like playing Russian Roulette with five bullets in rotation instead of one. If nothing else, the fact that Masau Ujiri was willing to pull the trigger on a tenure-defining trade that has such a high chance of backfiring speaks volumes about his level of desperation regarding the deja-vu of the Raptors' playoff failures, but I hope he wrote out his last will and testament before doing so. As for the man-child of the hour....
Other than incessantly pouting through second-hand sources, what exactly does Kawhi Leonard have the desire to do? Seriously, finding this dude somewhere to play a professional sport for tens of millions of dollars per year is somehow as painstaking as picking out a place to eat with your moody girlfriend. A bunch of demands, even more moping, and not one actual solution offered. He reportedly wants to be Laker but also has no interest in playing alongside LeBron James, so basically he's as impossible to please as a vegan that loves the serving style of Rodizio restaurants. No wonder the Spurs said "fuck it" and made him someone else's problem before they starved trying to cater to his bullshit. I'm pretty sure the injury excuse has run its course, so what's it going to be this time? He doesn't trust Toronto's team chef not to drug him into signing an extension? His passport expired? He doesn't own a coat? The utterance of the term "eh" makes him uneasy? I'm all for NBA players using the power afforded to them to plow their own career path, but this has undeniably crossed over into an abuse of that power. If Kawhi Leonard does indeed sit out the season then it's mainly the Raptors' fault for thinking they, of all people, could change the mind of someone that did the unthinkable by spurning the Spurs' winning culture. However, is it really too much to ask of Kawhi Leonard to just do his insanely profitable job until his contractual status permits him the ability to choose the super specific situation that suits his preposterously high maintenance "personality"? I'm not exactly genetically inclined to know what's best for him, but I don't think that collecting fines while silently sitting out nearly two full seasons for ambiguously shady reasons is the best way for him to maximize both his options and his value on the open market. But hey, I'm not blood-related, so what do I know?
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