Los Angeles Lakers: How Kawhi Leonard’s move to the Clippers impacts the Lakers

Kawhi Leonard kept the NBA on pause for days, then shocked the league by going to the Los Angeles Clippers. What does that mean for the Los Angeles Lakers?

With one stunning free-agency decision and one blockbuster trade — both of which few NBA fans or media saw coming — the Los Angeles Clippers defied the odds and turned the tables on their Staples Center neighbors, the Los Angeles Lakers.

After leading the Toronto Raptors to the 2018-19 NBA championship, superstar small forward Kawhi Leonard entered free agency as the league’s most sought-after available talent.

While most of this year’s big-name free agents made up their minds relatively quickly, Leonard dragged out his decision for about a week — which probably felt like a month for anyone who roots or works for the Lakers, Raptors and Clippers.

Those were the three teams that were reportedly on Leonard’s list.

Right up until the news broke on Friday night that Leonard was going to sign with the Clippers and that the team had agreed to a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder for All-NBA first team swingman Paul George, the widely-accepted belief was that Leonard had eliminated the Clippers from consideration and was leaning toward the Lakers.

The Leonard decision and the George trade changes everything for the Clippers, the Raptors, the Thunder and, of course, the Lakers.

After trading for superstar power forward/center Anthony Davis to pair with LeBron James earlier in the offseason, the Lakers were hoping to build a “super-team” by adding Leonard to the mix.

Now they must move on to Plan B of their roster-building strategy.

The downside is that a lot of stars and solid role players that would’ve been great for the Lakers are no longer available, snatched up while L.A. waited for Leonard.

Here are three takeaways from the league’s latest power shift in terms of how Leonard’s maneuvering impacts the Lakers.