{"id":499675,"date":"2026-03-02T17:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/499675\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T17:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:58:08","slug":"lakers-reportedly-could-battle-with-knicks-warriors-for-149-million-seven-time-all-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/499675\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers reportedly could battle with Knicks, Warriors for $149 million seven-time All-Star"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lakers reportedly could battle with Knicks, Warriors for $149 million seven-time All-Star<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>\u2019 34-year-old star forward isn\u2019t set to be a free agent until 2027.<\/p>\n

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The two-time NBA champion is in the midst of completing the second year of his three-year $149 million contract extension he inked with the Clippers in 2024, meaning a trade must be completed for him to leave Los Angeles this summer.<\/p>\n

However, Yahoo Sports\u2019 Tom Haberstroh believes there\u2019s a world <\/a>in which the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> could battle the Golden State Warriors<\/a> and New York Knicks<\/a> for the two-time NBA Finals MVP\u2019s services this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s a case where Adam Silver levies some sort of punishment, whether it\u2019s forcing Kawhi Leonard\u2019s contract to be invalidated,\u201d Haberstroh stated last Monday.\u00a0 And I think that would be one of the things that is on the table, because that is what David Stern did with the Joe Smith cap circumvention with the Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> decades ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interesting thing on that is it provides a conundrum where I think if Kawhi Leonard is now a free agent, you\u2019re now going to see a frenzy for his services, with the likes of the Lakers, with the likes of the Golden State Warriors, or the New York Knicks.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey would try to go get Kawhi Leonard at this stage as a free agent. That would create more hysteria and chaos around the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Haberstroh\u2019s idea is undoubtedly far-fetched, it isn\u2019t completely out of the equation. If it somehow materializes, the Lakers could position themselves to sign the accomplished veteran after striking out on him in 2019 (he entered free agency after winning a title with the Toronto Raptors<\/a> and eventually joined the Clippers).<\/p>\n

Leonard\u2019s two-way dominance when healthy would make him an ideal fit in JJ Redick\u2019s system in Los Angeles. The San Diego State product is contributing 28.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.0 steals per game with the Clippers this season, shooting 49.4% from the field and 38.1% from three-point land in 44 contests.<\/p>\n

If anything, Haberstroh\u2019s report emphasizes the importance of closely monitoring Leonard\u2019s situation in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

More NBA:\u00a0Cavaliers acquire 6-foot-3 former Pacers star, two-time All-Star via G-League trade<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers reportedly could battle with Knicks, Warriors for $149 million seven-time All-Star originally appeared on The Sporting News.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[20394,1318,2243,66655,11653,3031,11952,1055,11951,355,69881,15805,361,99,228071,2970],"class_list":["post-499675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-adam-silver","tag-free-agent","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-jj-redick","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-nba","tag-nba-champion","tag-nba-finals-mvp","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-sports","tag-tom-haberstroh","tag-toronto-raptors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}