Kenny Smith: LeBron And AD Don’t Need Kawhi To Win Tittles

The Los Angeles Lakers have LeBron James and Anthony Davis at the moment, and they are going after Kawhi Leonard. The team created enough cap space to get the Finals MVP, but Kenny Smith says they don’t need him.

Smith said that LeBron has to do his best to land someone like Kawhi, but if this didn’t happen, the Lakers shouldn’t panic.

“You’ve got LeBron James, you’ve got Anthony Davis. [Leonard’s] just an extra bonus,” Smith told TMZ Sports. “You should win the championship with that without question.”

When asked if the Lakers are too gready in the efforts to get Leonard, Smith said, “What’s after ‘greedy’? I’m thinking of the word after ‘greedy’ … gluttonous! You’re getting gluttonous.”

Chris Broussard is convinced that the Lakers will get Andre Iguodala, too.

“Kawhi to Lakers rumblings getting stronger & stronger. Iguodala likely to join Lakers after Memphis buyout. Danny Green & Seth Curry in Lakers’ scope. Lakers offered Rondo vet minimum & 24 hours to decide. Lakers on verge of building powerhouse.”

Broderick Turner of the L.A. Times went on Spectrum Sportsnet and said that Leonard met with Magic Johnson privately to determine how badly the Lakers wanted him while Magic was part of the front office.

“There was one interesting question (Leonard) had for Magic: ‘Did you guys try to trade for me when I was in San Antonio?’” Turner said. “And the answer was ‘yes, but because it was Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs, and our history, they were asking for 2,000 draft picks — well, not 2,000 — like four draft picks, first-round draft picks, and we just couldn’t do that.’ And that was one of his questions.”

Turner believes that Kawhi would also try to bring in his own medical team.

“LeBron James was able to bring on his own trainer, his own medical people,” Turner added. “(Kawhi) wants to know if he can do that as well. LeBron James brought on some people that weren’t with the Lakers, and he wants to know ‘can I bring with a couple of my guys?’ … And as far as I know, the Lakers would be willing to do that, because you do those things for superstar players.”

Leonard’s uncle Dennis Robertson probably talked to Johnson, too. Are the Lakers ready for Kawhi?

“The uncle’s questions were ‘what’s really going on in the organization between you, Jeanie, Rob Pelinka, everyone? Is it as dysfunctional as we’re reading and hearing?’” Turner said. “And the response was ‘we had some issues, but we’re past that. I’m past that. We’re still a family, such as you fight with your brothers and sisters sometimes, well, I had somewhat of a disagreement with my sister.

“And Rob Pelinka, yes, I said he was a back-stabber, but that happened then. Now I want the Lakers to be a championship team. Having Kawhi here would do that.”