Kawhi Leonard's Free Agency and How Not to Study for the SAT
A retrospective of the craziest free agency since LeBron decided to tank Cleveland's economy.
In honor of free agency beginning today, and the subsequent media coverage, I thought a retrospective would be nice. I’ll set a scene.
It’s 2019, the summer before my junior year of high school. I was supposed to take my SAT in my penultimate year, so my mom had enrolled me in two weeks of tutoring - three times a week - which I tried to tell her I didn’t need. I felt confident about the exam - after all, it’s stuff I learned right?
More important to me was NBA free agency, which was set to kick off on the second week of my sessions. I found myself bored at the tutoring center - my “tutor” John spent most of his time flirting with the receptionist while I made up fake trade scenarios in my head. In total, I’d complete maybe 10 problems in an hour, before I left for home everyday.
To set some context for the NBA landscape at the time, this was following the year that Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors unexpectedly won the championship - a situation which only the Raptors had anticipated. Kawhi, who was at some point virtually guaranteed to leave, decided to hold a meeting with the Raptors - maybe exploring the possibility of a return. Just a year ago, Kawhi had forced his way out of San Antonio and demanded a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers. Gregg Popovich decided to exact his revenge and send him to Toronto instead, for a worse return of DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl.
The Raptors came out on top that season because of a few reasons.
Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson’s injuries - the Warriors were still dominant in 2019, despite team chemistry implosions.
Giannis and the Bucks’ offense got stopped by building a wall, a strategy that he has never truly figured out how to beat.
Joel Embiid playing the worst basketball of his life in the second round.
Kawhi Leonard looking like Michael Jordan reincarnated for the entirety of the playoffs.
That’s right. Coming out of the 2019 season, Kawhi Leonard held Bill Simmons’ imaginary “Best Player” belt and his free agency coincided with his ascension to NBA royalty. The Klaw had so many suitors - all happy to present their offers and potentially lure the best two-way player since Jordan to their team. But really, only three teams had a chance.
Kawhi, from Los Angeles, wanted to come home. His Uncle Dennis had masterminded the trade request a year before. With the opportunity to become a hometown hero presented, and two teams with viable cap space, Kawhi had a chance to become a Los Angeles legend. Or he could run it back with the NBA champs…a situation which most players would have a hard time passing up, even in Canada.
The second week of my tutoring sessions started on a Monday, the day after most of the NBA had announced their free agency signings. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan had signed with the Nets, “a clean sweep”, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski. Jimmy Buckets signed with the Heat…much to the ire of ESPN, who claimed Butler just wanted to sip Pina Coladas and laze around on the beach. A few weeks prior, the Lakers had made a move for Anthony Davis - trading pretty much all of their young core except Kyle Kuzma for the chance of a title.
As a 15 year old who didn’t know much about the NBA cap or financial rules - I just wanted to see crazy things happen. And don’t get me wrong, they were happening - but there was still one domino that hadn’t fallen.
On the Monday of that week (July 1), John asked me why I was on my phone. I told him that I was just trying to see where Kawhi Leonard was going to sign. He deemed that a reasonable excuse, and then went back to asking the receptionist what she was doing tonight.
Kawhi Leonard is a notoriously quiet guy - much to the chagrin of the franchises he plays for, the fans who root for him, and sometimes his teammates. His quietness can be mistaken for shadiness at times. Kawhi Leonard, to make a statement, is a weird guy. But that’s what makes him cool. His camp is notoriously tight-lipped - with no leaks. Any report made about him is intentional…but despite that, the coverage back then was wild, to say the least. All of this made for a great distraction while I was supposed to be bubbling answers for the most important test of my life.
In early July, Kawhi Leonard had a meeting with the Raptors - potentially to tell them he’s resigning, undecided, or to bid them farewell and thank you. Fans were hard-pressed to figure out what the answer was going to be. So the media did the only reasonable thing - they used helicopters to track Kawhi like he was O.J. as he traveled in his black SUV. When Kawhi visited a Home Depot, fans speculated he was going to move, and when he attended a Blue Jays game, they noticed he was filming a Mike Trout at-bat.
At the helm of the fake reporting was a 21 year old self-proclaimed Lakers insider: Arye Abraham. Arye gained notoriety for stalking Dwight Howard outside of his hotel and then announcing his decision to not resign with the Lakers - which marginally counts as reporting, but I guess it’s fine. He decided to fan the flames harder when it came to Kawhi.
He also reported that the Lakers had secured Kawhi, even before Leonard’s scheduled meeting with the Raptors. Arye realized he could capitalize on the short-term - and if he were to guess right - he could maybe make a career out of it. I’m guessing the sources he had weren’t actually real - but how could fans know? A lot of respected media people were also getting it wrong. Jalen Rose reported that Kawhi would sign with the Raptors, and Chris Broussard reported the Clippers were out.
All in all, the media - fake and real - didn’t know how to cover such an enigma. We haven’t seen anything like it since.
On July 6th, at 2 AM Eastern Time, I received a notification from Yahoo Sports.
“Okay,” I thought. “Better than joining the Lakers”. I then pondered a bit more about how he would fit on the team. “They’re pretty good - but better than LeBron and AD?” And then this popped up.
“What the hell?” I said under my breath. “How’d that happen?”
“Kawhi Leonard, you scheming bastard.”
Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep that night.
That 2019 free agency was crazy for a few reasons - the variety of stars who were on the market, but also the media circus on Kawhi’s decision. Not since The Decision™ was the NBA so frantic about a player’s movement. So what happened after the fact?
What if I told you that neither Kawhi or Paul George was the most consequential player in that Thunder-Clippers exchange, for lack of a better word(maybe the better word is blackmail). Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who blossomed into an MVP candidate years later, is poised for years more of success, thanks in part to the boatload of draft picks that the Clippers sent Sam Presti. One of those picks, Jalen Williams, has also turned into an All-Star caliber player.
For all of Kawhi Leonard’s scheming and planning, did it work out? Kawhi and the Clippers choked a 3-1 lead to the Nuggets in 2020, and he’s been injured in every playoffs since then. Now, Paul George is going to walk away for nothing. The Clippers title window, which once seemed long, is closed.
Also, Arye Abraham? He’s a lawyer now - sleazy as they come - but more importantly, we should all should throw tomatoes at him for doing irreversible damage to the NBA Twitter community.
Finally - I’m sure some of you want to know - how did I end up doing on my SAT despite my lack of preparation? Pretty good. Take that Kawhi - not all things happen for a reason.