Los Angeles Lakers: Pondering potential Kawhi Leonard trade packages

Trade No. 2: The middle ground

In this scenario, the Lakers try to sweeten the pot a bit. They pull back Ingram, which is great. However, this trade comes at the cost of Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart, two young guns who are already fan favorites and make up a huge part of this squad’s young core.

To top it off, the Lakers also toss in their 2019 first round pick. It’s a tough loss for a rebuilding franchise, but it theoretically isn’t a horrible loss — they get to keep their pick (via Cleveland) this year and potentially could be selecting late in the first round of 2019 if their offseason overhaul works as planned. Losing a mid-20s pick a year from now is a small loss for a team in win-now mode.

It would be painful to make this deal a reality, but it wouldn’t be a death sentence for the Lakers. Leonard still essentially replaces Kuzma in the starting lineup, which is an obvious upgrade. The departure of Hart is a blow to the bench unit, but it’s a burden Los Angeles can bear.

Again, the problem here is whether or not it’s enough for the Spurs. They could easily get a better package from another club, but Kawhi could be set on the Lakers. If he can force ownership (or Popovich’s hand), he may be able to talk his way back to California.

In the end, I feel like this may not be enough. Unless San Antonio gives in to Leonard’s strong-arming, I believe it’d still want more than this.