Kawhi Leonard Trade Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers Approach Rebuffed By Spurs

The Los Angeles Lakers contacted the San Antonio Spurs regarding a potential trade for disgruntled star Kawhi Leonard but to no avail.

It was reported last week Leonard was looking to be traded away from San Antonio and was interested in a move to either the Lakers or the Clippers with both franchises being based in his hometown of Los Angeles. His ideal preference, however, is the Lakers, where he could be in line for a potential union with LeBron James.

The 28-year-old's reasoning for a departure from Texas is how the Spurs handled his quadriceps injury along with public comments made by teammate Tony Parker and head coach Gregg Popovich about his recovery process. Leonard played just nine games during the course of last season and although he was expected to return in mid-March, he never made his comeback which seemingly put him at odds with everyone at the franchise.

The 2014 NBA Finals MVP, who has one year remaining on his current contract, intentionally made himself hard to reach in recent weeks but reportedly met with Popovich in southern California on Tuesday. There are no reports on how the meeting went, but it is understood the latter discussed the issues that have fractured the relationship between the various parties.

Regardless, the Lakers attempted to initiate contact with the Spurs but had the "door shut on us" according to a team source close to ESPN. No players were discussed but the impression is the San Antonio side have no interest in doing business with the Lakers.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka would then say Thursday that although teams are not reluctant to do deals with them, he believes there is "a natural envy" from other teams due to their historical success.

"It's not like teams are saying 'I won't do a deal with the Lakers' but I do think when you have 16 banners, there's going to be a natural envy from your competitors," he said.

Leonard could still yet get his move to the Staples Center but that would involve him staying at the AT&T Center for another year before signing on as a free agent.

While the Spurs are uninterested in facilitating a deal with the Lakers, they are still open to his departure, having encouraged teams to present an offer, though they are still reluctant to give teams guidance on the players or packages that would interest them in a trade.

Eight-time All-Star Vince Carter said Leonard's wish to be traded came as a shock to him as he felt his differences with the Spurs could have been worked out.

"I really believed that. It was a shock to hear (he wanted to be traded), and sometimes guys have just had enough," Carter said, as per Get More Sports. "That just told me that there’s something more, maybe something with this injury. Maybe he felt it was a major injury, and maybe he felt they didn’t do all they could to get the second and third opinions, I don’t know. Obviously they keep it pretty sealed over there (in San Antonio), they don’t let a lot of information get out."

"I guess in due time it will all come to light, but I kind of hate to see him go because he did some special things, and to not see the Spurs have a dominant team will be tough — even though they were pretty darn good without him."