NBA Rumors: Lakers Reportedly Might Pursue Kawhi Leonard Or Paul George In 2021 Free Agency
Although the 2021 free agency period is still several months away, it was recently suggested that the Los Angeles Lakers could pursue the two superstar forwards from their crosstown rivals, the Clippers — Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
As quoted by Heavy on Tuesday, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne recently appeared on the Mason and Ireland Show, where she talked about some of the players the Lakers could pursue in 2021 aside from the Milwaukee Bucks’ two-time league MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo. She specifically mentioned Leonard and George as two of the team’s potential targets, considering how they can both opt out of the final year of their contracts and become free agents next summer.
According to Shelburne, finding a more youthful top-tier player is necessary in order to ensure that Anthony Davis is able to properly take over as the No. 1 guy in Los Angeles as LeBron James enters the twilight of his career.
“If you were the Lakers and you were team-building, you would look at Anthony Davis as the next star to build around. It’s nice for him to have LeBron this year and next year, but he needs a younger star to play with going forward. Whether it’s this summer or the summer after that, you have to put yourself in a position either by trade or free agency to acquire a younger star to pair with Anthony Davis so the handoff from LeBron to AD is seamless.”
As explained by Heavy, the Lakers are seemingly preparing for the 35-year-old James’ “eventual slowdown,” despite the fact he is still capable of posting MVP-caliber numbers. At 30 and 29 years old respectively, George and Leonard are substantially younger than the four-time MVP and are closer in age to Davis, who turns 28 in March. However, the publication noted that there has been a bit of concern surrounding the former No. 1 overall draft pick out of Kentucky, despite the belief that he is almost guaranteed to re-sign with the Lakers and help the organization win a second straight championship in the 2020-21 campaign.
Following the Clippers’ disappointing exit from the 2020 playoffs, where they blew a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals, there has been much speculation about George’s future with the franchise. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case with Leonard, who has reportedly made some requests this offseason with regard to the type of players the Clippers target. In October, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith claimed that the former Defensive Player of the Year has “privately” been pushing for his team to upgrade its point guard rotation.
