Lakers Rumors: Latest Buzz on Kawhi Leonard and More

The Los Angeles Lakers seem content with the plan. 

While the plan hasn't always been public knowledge, it appears to center on the idea LeBron James can tough it out for one year with the current crop of players and then lure big-name free agents to town in 2019. 

One potential free agent in this scenario is Kawhi Leonard, a guy the Lakers chose not to trade for before he was unexpectedly shipped to the Toronto Raptors. 

Those Raptors didn't appear to offer something outrageous in the transaction, either: 

It's interesting to think about the tug-of-war decision the Lakers had to make here. They didn't have a DeMar DeRozan to offer by any means, but general logic would suggest they have enough in the way of assets and prospects to make some sort of deal work. But it's a question of going all-in around James or showing a bit of patience and continuing to reap the benefits of years of rebuilding done right. 

From the sounds of it, the Lakers chose the latter route and are confident they can retain the young nucleus while gaining Leonard next offseason: 

In other words, the Lakers are praying they don't get hit with another Paul George situation. 

George, a hometown kid, always seemed destined to play for the Lakers, but the Indiana Pacers shipped him to the Oklahoma City Thunder. This offseason, he bucked conventional wisdom and signed an extension with the Thunder as opposed to using the market to finally join the Lakers. 

Could a repeat occur here with Leonard? At first, it seemed like the Lakers' line of thinking was correct, with ESPN's Chris Haynes reporting he "has no desire to play in Toronto."

But that didn't last. 

Instead, Leonard is starting to "warm to the idea" of playing for the Raptors, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski (h/t theScore's Chris Walder).

On one hand, Leonard doesn't really have a choice. He only played in nine games last year before the odd playoff saga. Regardless of where he is, he'll need to showcase to teams he's, well, still able to play the game and not chronically injured. 

On the other, this could be a bad sign already for the Lakers. Leonard going to a team in the Eastern Conference and an easier path to the playoffs each year could end up being quite appealing, funnily enough, especially with James now in the opposite conference. 

Everything is far from final when it comes to the Leonard saga, but it's clear the Lakers are content to once again take a major risk. This time they simply do so after winning James, which gives them a little more overhead to gamble. 

But the whiff on the market outside of winning James puts the focus firmly on the current roster where one issue sticks out: Lonzo Ball's knee injury. 

Ball was superb a year ago on his way to averages of 10.2 points, 7.2 assists and 6.9 rebounds per game and will clearly be a key cog in the machine surrounding James. But over the course of the summer since his knee issue "leaked" he has been a question mark. 

Based on a new report though, the blossoming point guard should be back in time for training camp: 

If the Lakers don't make any other major moves, Ball is left competing with free-agent add Rajon Rondo, a savvy battle-tested veteran who fits the same cloth as other recent additions such as Lance Stephenson and JaVale McGee. 

Ball is still the front-runner at the position, but Rondo has been known to come alive during the playoffs, so the season-long battle could be interesting, provided Ball returns by the anticipated date. 

That bunch of veteran names likely isn't what Lakers fans had in mind when it comes to surrounding James with talent. Rolling the dice on a year of James' prime in a deep Western Conference while he's 33 years old already seems risky, though it's hard to imagine he didn't have some sort of opinion on the matter either. 

The reality is this isn't a terrible supporting cast for James, even if it isn't what some fans had envisioned. At the least, there's no more playing the patience game while the team loses a ton of games—not with a king in town.