(Update: Since this article's posting Kawhi Leonard chose a different team.)

Kawhi Leonard has choices. He is the most attractive free agent NBA player of the summer. He's an MVP Champion, he led his team to the championship, and he is healthy enough to play next year. If he chooses to play for the Los Angeles Lakers that would not be the weakest move ever.

Some might compare his choosing the Lakers to Kevin Durant choosing the Warriors. That is not even a close comparison! KD was a great player that hadn't won any rings yet. The Warriors were already an accomplished (Championship) team. A healthy KD made them almost unbeatable. On the other hand Kawhi Leonard already is a NBA Champion and would not be "chasing" a ring no matter where he chooses to play next year. Like LeBron going back home to Cleveland Kawhi would simply be going back home to LA, and be recognized as part of a savior for his hometown storied franchise, not a "joiner".

The fact that the Lakers already have LeBron and Anthony Davis and by adding Kawhi, should he choose the Lakers, would not diminish any NBA championships that this trio would win (and it is recognized that they would probably win a bunch). The Lakers big three and the other veterans playing for the minimum would be the best basketball team in the NBA. So what? The best team usually wins the NBA championship and the Lakers with this team will be the number one draw league wide as they do it. That would be great!

As for those who say that Kawhi would be taking the "easy road" they are not taking into account the fact that a lot of NBA stars have avoided this "easy road" of playing for a storied franchise like the Lakers. Some very talented players actually shrank when playing for the Lakers whether it was due to the bright lights or the distractions of LA. So for Kawhi to take up the challenge of performing on the biggest stage in basketball would not be a weak move at all. Kawhi would be measuring himself against the very best where if he succeeds in setting team records those records would also more than likely be NBA records, because players from the Lakers hold a plethora of the NBA's all time records.

The Lakers being great again would not be a bad look for the NBA. The prestige of the past coming into the present only raises the look of the NBA. Having Lakers' games sellout 82 times will only help. No matter how fans of other teams complain on Twitter they will still want to be in attendance to watch their team play the Lakers when they come to town (or be glad to sell their seats at a high premium).

Getting back to Kawhi choosing to come to play for the Lakers, he would be coming home. Some would say "why doesn't he come home and play for the Clippers then?". Those people would not be from LA (except for Marcellus Wiley the famous FOX Sports personality). Serious actors don't aspire to play "off Broadway". Once successful off Broadway they look to make it "on Broadway". And they don't choose a lesser production hoping to make a big splash. No they choose the best production available and view their ability to be able to choose the most storied production company as being a testament to their talent and not a weak move.

Anyone who has read anything else I've written on this site or other social media sites know my favorite team is the LA Lakers. But I've been a fan through the Lakers good times and bad, and feel no shame that there have been far more good times than bad! I hope that Kawhi chooses to showcase his talents by choosing to accept the max contract from, and play for, the Los Angeles Lakers for the next 5 years.

 

Right off the bat let me say that my favorite sports team is the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.

I live in the Los Angeles area where sports fans are said to be too laid back, which in the opinion of those who say that means that we are lackadaisical (lacking enthusiasm or determination). Wrong!

Los Angeles sports fans are real fans, just with year round great alternative choices to being at the game. So when we are at the game we want it to mean something, to be important enough to take our attention away from doing something else that would be just as engaging. The team on the court or on the field has to be good!

The Lakers have historically been great while at the same time being wildly entertaining. Over the past few years when they didn't make the playoffs they still were entertaining. That's why their games at StaplesCenter have still always been sold out, and there is still a multiple years long waiting list just to become a season ticket holder.

Like other fans of the NBA, Lakers fans love talking about their team. So does the national media. Even though the team hasn't made the playoffs, and even though certain sports media personalities say they lost interest in the team they still continued to talk about them (sometimes within the same broadcast where they swore off talking about them).

Everything that happens to the Lakers seems to be bigger. After the 2018-2019 season ended the "dysfunction" in the front office was a major story that wouldn't go away. There was a lot happening of course. But as it turns out there was turmoil in other NBA front offices that just wasn't being talked about. Is it because a conversation about other team's turmoil wouldn't move the needle as much as talking about the Lakers front office turmoil does? Probably so.

So at this point I am of the opinion that my favorite sports team (even among all the other LA sports teams) was not as bad off as the myriad of stories over this spring made them seem. Their turn around is still underway and still on track with the timeline that was given for it. The turn around is still a work in progress, but the progress has always been going forward for the past two years, despite the injuries to many of the players and reported collusion by other front offices and agents against the Lakers.

Like all NBA fans I am looking forward to seeing what will further develop in the building of rosters and I have high hopes for the 2019-2020 basketball season.