NBA Free Agency is something like two days old, and Kawhi Leonard is still unsigned.
While it’s possible nobody wants him (ever thought of that?), sources (The Internet™) say that Leonard will, eventually, sign and it appears that the Lakers and Clippers are two of the contenders.
Which makes one wonder:
Does Kawhi Leonard just really want to watch a lot of NIT games in person?
Presumably, NBA players can afford TV’s (I’m sure they don’t make as much as NIT bloggers, but I’m assuming they do well enough for themselves that they can afford a television, or at least one of those ESPN accounts that lets you watch the NIT on your phone). But in considering Southern California as his next stop, it looks like Kawhi Leonard wants to watch his premier basketball in person when he isn’t busy with work.
Here’s a short list of teams within a couple hours of Los Angeles who none of us would be surprised to see playing in next year’s NIT:
UCLA
USC
Loyola Marymount
UC-Irvine
UC-Riverside
Cal State-Fullerton
Cal State-Northridge (had to look that one up turns out it’s in Los Angeles)
Long Beach State
UC-Santa Barbara
Cal State-Bakersfield
San Diego State
San Diego
Pepperdine
Pacific? (I don’t know where Pacific is)
Quite a few, right?
Yes, the road to glory in today’s basketball universe runs through the southern half of America’s elbow. If Kawhi Leonard does, indeed, end up in LA, it’ll show that he’s more than just a basketball player. He’s a basketball sommelier.
Or he might just want to be closer to Joe Kelly.
