Los Angeles Lakers: Magic Johnson’s best moves of the 2018 offseason

2. Declining to go all-in on Kawhi Leonard trade

Leading up to the beginning of 2018 NBA free agency, all the buzz was about the Lakers’ pursuit of a Kawhi Leonard trade. The San Antonio Spurs allegedly wanted a king’s ransom for their two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and folks were afraid Magic would oblige.

As we all know, that didn’t happen. The Lakers reportedly offered Brandon Ingram and a first round pick (via ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski), but the Spurs were not smitten with the proposal. Instead, they ended up shipping Leonard and Danny Green to the Toronto Raptors, and got DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a 2019 protected first round pick in return.

At one point, there were rumors that the Lakers had made a “Godfather” offer for Leonard (via USA Today Sports‘ Sam Amick). Although it was never fully clarified what that may have included, there was plenty of speculation on potential packages.

Either way, the Lakers didn’t pull the trigger. As a result, they kept their young core intact, allowing them the upside of retaining their exciting group of prospects with the potential to sign Leonard next offseason. Although he could opt to pull a Paul George and re-sign with the Raptors in 2019, the Lakers are confident they’ll ink Kawhi next offseason, according to Bleacher Report‘s Ric Bucher).

Will that happen? We won’t know until next July. However, the decision by Magic to stand pat instead of gutting the roster for Leonard was a true show of strength and restraint.