Los Angeles Lakers rumors: Why Kawhi Leonard will never be a Laker
By Jason Reed
1. Kawhi Leonard is someone that likely wouldn’t want to deal with what comes from playing alongside LeBron
I have no idea how Kawhi Leonard feels and I am not pretending to have any insider information about how he feels about LeBron James. This is purely speculatory based on the kind of player and person that Leonard has shown himself to be on the basketball court.
On paper, you might think that Leonard is perfect to play alongside LeBron. He isn’t someone that wants to be in the media spotlight, he is quiet and he seemingly would be okay with taking a sidekick role alongside LeBron.
The Lakers would never pitch it like that to Leonard but the problem is that is how the media perceives it. And even though Leonard is not someone that openly struggles with media hostility, he likely would not like the idea of being anyone’s sidekick.
Plus, as already established, Leonard is not someone that needs to be in the limelight. And while the main focus would still be around LeBron, playing with LeBron brings so much media coverage that suddenly every single thing gets nitpicked.
Leonard is someone that already came out of a media fiasco with the San Antonio Spurs and likely does not want there to be any chance of that happening again. It does not matter how good Leonard is, either, he will always be the fall guy.
And that is not necessarily LeBron’s fault. While his comments this season might lead some to think otherwise, he is not the one that starts these conversations.
It is the media, and unfortunately, you cannot escape it when you are playing with LeBron James.