Yet he's going to have a meeting with them now? That seems counter productive if he doesn't want to go play with them.

Lebron will probably be gone in a year or two anyway, then Kawhi and AD can stay and become Lakers for life. I'm guessing that would carry more than wherever else he went, if he cared about that.

Which with Kawhi, who the hell knows if he does or not.
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Westbrook is that for sure, but damn, can he win a playoff series atleast?
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They're gonna have that issue either way.

So they can either add a great player that eases the load on LeBron while he's on the court, thus lessening the need for significant depth. Or they can get 2.5 mediocre players who soak up minutes but demand that Lebron work a lot harder when he's out there.

Signing Patty Mills, John Henson and Josef Nurkic just means that LeBron and Davis are gonna be busting their asses for 35 minutes/gm to cover for the fact that those 2 (and Kozma) are going to be playing with mediocre help around them. Whereas if you have a true max-level guy, they can all play 30 minutes a game and distribute the load among themselves a little better.

In the former situation you're still struggling to find another 6 roster players. In the latter you're gonna have to hustle to find 8. So all you've really done is change the back of your bench a little and in the process you've diminished your starting 5 and put a heavier load on your superstars.

Nah - I think that's just completely wrong.
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He’s probably doing it out of respect for Lebron.

For a while it was Kawhi wants to go to the Lakers, then it all of a sudden changed when Lebron signed there and it’s been that way since till we now hear about a visit, which doesn’t mean much since it sounds like he’s taking quite a few.
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Westbrook had his chance, but he wasn’t aware of who the best player on his team was, and it probably pushed him away.
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Just take the stars, throw in some midlevel guys and make it to the playoffs healthy.

Once you're there, let the stars run.

Everyone is pumping the "Raptors model" right now, but if the Warriors aren't a mash unit by the finals, i'm pretty sure we all know how that series ends.
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No doubt.

If the Lakers added a max guy to go with Davis, LeBron and Kuzma, their 'core 4' would be comparable, though a tick behind, the GS 4.

The reason being that Draymond is incredibly overrated and I think Klay oftentimes gets a bit more love than he deserves.

And that team, built on a stars and scrubs model, would've waxed Toronto. Now the counterargument is that the reason they lost is that they didn't have the depth to survive Durant/Thomas going down.

But do you think the Raptors could've survived had Kawhi went down? Even with their vaunted depth? Hell, they probably lose that series if Siakam goes down. If Durant had dropped, Thomas stayed healthy and Siakam went out early, that series is over in 5. The depth of the Raptors was given too much credit for that series when it was really it's superstar player and the injuries from GS that determined the outcome.

Depth in the NBA only matters if the stars are healthy. If you lose your big dog (especially 2 of your top 3 guys), all the depth in the world won't mean shit.
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Being James Worthy in LA is a pretty good gig for Kawhi.
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He's not a star in the country until he resigns. Until then he is just a rental who helped them win a championship. He signs somewhere else trust me all the love he is getting in Toronto will be gone.

So you can stop with the 'God' talk. Acting like he is Jordan or Kobe or Bird and has been with the Raptors his whole career.
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Yes. He can be first fiddle on the raptors and clippers and with him they're championship contenders too.
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Wtf do you really think that? Toronto will forever love him and will one day hang his number up just for 2018-2019. No matter what happens, he's the guy who brought the city their first championship. He'll be a God there forever for that.
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:-)

I don’t understand why this upsets you so much, but the city of Toronto absolutely loves Kawhi and he’s a god there at the moment. You could argue it all you want, but it’s the truth.
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IIRC, PA is a big Spurs fan so make with that what you will.
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Call it what it really is and stop sugarcoating it you simply are not very competitive and only care about money/living easy life. Which is fine but not everyone is like that... Some players are extremely competitive and don't want to play with the best they want to beat the best.

Kobe/MJ stayed with team that drafted them through thick and thin. You act like the Bulls were always stacked. They weren't. It took MJ a long time before he won his first championship. So acting like Bulls were always stacked is ridiculous.

It does not upset me it's just simply not true. But hey if you think Canadians think Kawhi is a God then that is fine believe whatever you want.
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Kobe wasn't drafted by the Lakers and he demanded a trade at least twice...
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