Why the Charlotte Hornets could be in the running to land Kawhi Leonard

With Kawhi Leonard reportedly on the trade block, the Charlotte Hornets should be trying to do everything possible to land the Spurs’ superstar.

Rumors have been swirling around Kawhi Leonard after he only played in nine games this season because of an “injured” right quad. Despite being cleared by the San Antonio Spurs‘ medical team, the two-time all-star elected to remain sidelined and get a second opinion on his injury. Then the reports came out about a rift between Leonard and the Spurs. If that’s true, a team like the Charlotte Hornets could be in prime position to make a shock swoop for Kawhi.

Peter Vecsey recently reported that San Antonio is “done” with the two-time defensive player of the year. A Western Conference executive told Vecsey that “Kawhi will be traded, but it’ll be to an Eastern team.” That should give some hope to the Hornets if they plan on looking for trades this summer that will improve their squad.

Whether or not the rumors and reports are true, it seems pretty obvious that Kawhi won’t be in San Antonio for too much longer. With the 2013-14 NBA Finals MVP on the trade block, a number of teams are looking to acquire him including the Lakers and the 76ers. Any team would love to add the superstar forward but acquiring him could prove to be tricky, especially for the Hornets.

More from Swarm and Sting

Charlotte was originally linked to Leonard earlier this year when team owner Michael Jordan made a comment near the trade deadline about not trading Kemba Walker unless it was for a certain player and then proceeded to name drop Kawhi. Then, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders came out with reports that the Hornets “tried to engage on a Leonard deal built around Kemba Walker” and that “there is a growing sense that if the Hornets could find a way to pry Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard out of San Antonio, they pull the trigger” which furthered the link between the two sides.

Bovada listed the betting odds for which team Kawhi will be on for the first game of the 2018-19 season and Charlotte was given 15/1 odds. That was tied for eighth best with the Milwaukee Bucks and behind the San Antonio Spurs (5/8), the Philadelphia 76ers (9/2), the Los Angeles Lakers (13/2), the Los Angeles Lakers (7/1), the Boston Celtics (11/1), the Cleveland Cavaliers (12/1) and the New York Knicks (14/1).

Although the Hornets weren’t given the best odds to land Leonard, the fact that they were included in the list speaks volumes and shows that even Vegas believes that the Queen City team has a chance even if it is a longshot.

The problem for Charlotte is that their current salary cap is tricky and they don’t have a lot of attractive assets on their roster. Outside of Kemba Walker, (possibly) Malik Monk and Jeremy Lamb, the Hornets are short on desirable players. Although, they do have all of their future first-round picks.

A potential trade would most likely include Kemba Walker. The simplest deal would be Kemba, Jeremy Lamb and a first-round pick to the Spurs in exchange for Leonard. But, seeing that San Antonio has almost no leverage, Charlotte may be able to find a way to keep their all-star point guard. The Hornets could trade Nicolas Batum, Malik Monk and their 2018 lottery draft pick to the Spurs.

If San Antonio doesn’t want Nic and would rather take on young players and expiring deals, Charlotte could make a blockbuster deal by sending Malik Monk, Jeremy Lamb, Frank Kaminsky, Julyan Stone and Dwayne Bacon to the Spurs while receiving Kawhi Leonard, Bryn Forbes and Brandon Paul in return. The Hornets may have to include their 2018 first-round pick to sweeten the deal.

Why would a team like Charlotte risk a bit of their future for a player who just missed almost an entire season, only has one year left on his deal (plus a player-option for another year) and reportedly wants to play in a big market? Well because the Hornets desperately need to become relevant and trading for a top-10 player in the league would not only do that but immediately make them contenders in the East.

Kawhi has been named to two All-NBA First Team’s and to four All-NBA Defensive Teams (three first-team). Not to mention that he is only 26-years old and averaged a career-high 25.5 points per game to go along with 5.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals in the 2016-17 season.

He is one of, if not, the best two-way player in the league today. He would be a 20+ PPG scorer for Charlotte, a lockdown defender and If the Hornets somehow figured out a way to acquire Leonard, he would become one of the best players ever to wear the purple and teal.

Next: Charlotte's 15 greatest draft picks of all-time

It may be a longshot but being an Eastern Conference team, owning all of their future first-round picks and having a past link to Kawhi Leonard at least puts the Charlotte Hornets in the running to land the all-star. I would argue that they are a dark horse to acquire the 6’7 small forward. This will be an interesting summer for both the Queen City team and Leonard but I would expect for Mitch Kupchak and company to at least try to get a Kawhi if he is available.

Home/Hornets News