The Cleveland Cavaliers will have to offer a King’s ransom to the San Antonio Spurs if they want Kawhi Leonard.
If anything has been made abundantly clear by the Cleveland Cavaliers 2017-2018 campaign, it’s that the Cavaliers have a serious hole to plug in their starting lineup.
The Cavaliers have no second option.
Across the country, there’s a disgruntled player who could fill that hole nearly as well as anyone: San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard.
Cavs big man Kevin Love, for all the talk about needing to be more involved and being up to the challenge of being the second option, not only fails to offer the ability to create for himself and others but has failed to consistently impose his will on opposing defenses. After averaging 19.0 points per game last season, he averaged 17.6 points per game this season. He’s averaging 14.8 points per game in the postseason and has only made 40.5 percent of his field goal attempts in his postseason career (all four seasons with Cleveland).
Leonard, however, not only is in the prime of his career and proven to be capable of leading a playoff team but has developed into a deadly scorer who can make plays off-the-dribble or spotting up. He’s averaged 22.3 points per game on 49.8 percent shooting from the field and 40.3 percent shooting from the perimeter in his last three seasons. In the postseason, those numbers jump to 24.1 points per game on 50.5 percent shooting from the field and 44.2 percent shooting from the perimeter in the three seasons preceding the 2018 NBA Playoffs, which he didn’t participate in.
The pairing of LeBron James — who has yet to lose his status as the best player in the game — and Leonard would be Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen-esque. The latter duo has the edge on the former from a defensive standpoint because though James and Leonard could lock up any team’s top two players, James is less assertive as an on-ball defender than Jordan or Pippen at this point in his career. However, the combined playmaking abilities of James and Leonard could be at least as great as Jordan and Pippen’s, with James’ playmaking better than Jordan’s and Leonard’s scoring ability better than Pippen’s.
Historical perspective aside, Leonard is exactly the type of player needed to lure James back to Cleveland in the offseason. At just 26-years-old, Leonard is a Finals MVP, two-time Defensive Player of the Year and two-time All-Star. He’s considered one of the top ten players in the league by everyone, if not top five.
Love — a five-time All-Star — is one of the best players in the league and one of the top twenty-five players in the league but not the top ten.
Talking trade, acquiring Leonard won’t never easy. The Spurs would rather pay him $219 million than trade him and will only trade Leonard for a “grand-slam” offer.
Let’s call it a King’s ransom, considering how much the Cavs will be giving up for the ultimate purpose of keeping James in Cleveland.
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Cleveland Cavaliers offer: Kevin Love, Kyle Korver, Cedi Osman, Ante Zizic, 8th pick in 2018 NBA Draft, 2021 first-round draft pick
Cleveland Cavaliers receive: Kawhi Leonard, Pau Gasol, 18th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft
The Cleveland Cavaliers are giving up as much as they possibly can in terms of personnel in their lone All-Star outside of LeBron James in Kevin Love and one of the greatest shooters of all-time in Kyle Korver. Those two players, along with two first-round picks — one of which is a lottery pick— should get the Cavs in the conversation of acquiring Kawhi Leonard.
Love and LaMarcus Aldridge will form one of the most dynamic frontcourts in the NBA While Korver can either be valuable as a fire torch from three-point range and as a possible replacement for Danny Green.
Adding young and promising players like Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic to the trade is probably overkill but it might be necessary as well considering that the Spurs have both long-sought Osman in a trade and need to plan for a rebuild with so many older players on the roster. Especially if Leonard is being traded.
With the addition of Leonard, LeBron James will move to power forward. As he approaches his 34th birthday and embarks on his 16th season, shifting to power forward seems like a natural progression. Though he’s still one of the best athletes in the NBA, it’s undeniable that he’s losing burst in his first step and doesn’t have the endurance necessary to go all-out defense when matched up with players who can score off the bounce all game.
Leonard and James will carry the Cavaliers offense, creating for themselves and others from the perimeter in ways that the duo of Love and James never could. Leonard’s defender on the perimeter will take pressure off of the entire team, which can now feature five feisty and athletic defenders as Tristan Thompson would likely start beside James at center.
With Pau Gasol backing up Thompson, his scoring, rebounding and intelligence will allow him to take Love’s place as a stretch-five when the Cavaliers want to play 5-out on offense.
Swapping the 8th and 18th picks allows the Spurs to draft a lottery prospect who could potentially change their franchise. A player like Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr., Villanova’s Miles Bridges or Michigan State’s Miles Bridges who could develop into a star just as Leonard did.
The Cavaliers should be in the range of promising young guard prospect like Villanova’s Jalen Brunson. Their lack of backcourt scoring won’t be as much of an issue with Leonard’s addition but they’ll still need to add a perimeter playmaker for the second unit and to play Jordan Clarkson as a shooting guard.
This is a trade that works for both sides, a rarity.
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*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com