Page 24 - Florida Sentinel 7-5-19

Sports
Kawhi Leonard May
Kemba Walker Plans
Heat Trade
To Commit To $141M
Hassan
Not Make Decision
Max Deal With Celtics;
Whiteside
Until Later In Week
Pen Letter To Hornets
To Blazers
Kawhi Leonard appears to have his free agency deci- sion narrowed down to three teams or fewer, but the NBA Finals MVP is in no rush to choose between them.
ESPN’s Adrian Woj- narowski said on “Get Up” Tuesday morning that Leonard “very much has a willingness to play it out this week” and may not agree to a deal until after the 4th of July holiday.
The Lakers are believed to be the frontrunner to sign Leonard, and there were a number of indications on Monday night that the deal is as good as finalized. How-
Kemba Walker has cashed in on his All-NBA sta- tus and plans to agree to a four-year, $141 million max deal with the Boston Celtics when free agency opens Sun- day.
The eight-year NBA vet- eran is coming off his third straight All-Star appearance and first All-NBA nod, earn- ing third-team honors with a career year.
His All-NBA status made him eligible for a supermax contract heading into free agency. But his negotiations with the Charlotte Hornets hit a snag with the franchise not wanting to commit the five-year, $221.3 million su- permax deal to their star per- former.
Walker posted career-
KEMBA WALKER
high averages of 25.6 points, 5.9 assists and 4.4 rebounds while tallying 1.4 steals per game in starting all 82 games for the Hornets. Walker later penned a letter to Hor- net fans, Michael Jordan and management thanking everyone for giving him a chance to be a better player.
HASSAN WHITESIDE
The Miami Heat are ship- ping Hassan Whiteside out of town.
The Heat have agreed to trade Whiteside to the Port- land Trail Blazers in exchange for forwards Moe Harkless and Meyers Leonard.
Essentially, the Blazers have cover for Jusuf Nurkic without giving up any major pieces. Their goal is to remain among the biggest contenders in the Western Conference, and this deal helps them do so.
KAWHI LEONARD
ever, nothing is official until Leonard makes the an- nouncement, and there’s a reason he is giving the Toronto Raptors a chance to meet with him last.
Kevon Looney, Warriors Agree To 3-Year, $15M Deal
Kevon Looney is return- ing to the Golden State War- riors.
Looney agreed to a 3- year, $15 million with the Dubs, his agent Todd Ra- masar said. The two sides agreed to the deal after meet- ing in Los Angeles on Mon- day.
The Warriors are facing a hard cap for the upcoming season due to their sign-and- trade deal with Brooklyn in-
KEVON LOONEY
volving D’Angelo Russell and Kevin Durant. Their signings of Klay Thompson
and Russell to an extension, combined with the existing salaries of Steph Curry and Draymond Green, left the Warriors with very little room to build the rest of their ros- ter. The idea of keeping Looney, however valuable to the team, seemed like it might not be possible. But the two sides got it done, and Golden State will likely have to fill out the rest of the roster with minimum contracts.
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