Magic Johnson may have done more harm than good in his effort to recruit Kawhi Leonard to the Los Angeles Lakers.
According to a report by The Athletic's Jovan Buha and Sam Amick, the Lakers legend "sealed the fate" of the franchise after he spilled the tea about his meeting with Kawhi and his Uncle Dennis. Leonard and his camp had encouraged teams to keep information regarding their meetings confidential, and reportedly didn't feel they could trust the Lakers after Magic leaked details of their conversation.
“I truly believe that when Magic started telling the media about the meeting he had with Kawhi and Dennis, that sealed the fate of the Lakers,” a person involved in the process told The Athletic. “I think that right there was when Dennis and Kawhi decided we can’t trust the Lakers as an organization. And that was it. I think that was it for them.”
As we know, Kawhi ultimately chose to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, after the team reached a deal with the OKC Thunder to acquire All Star forward Paul George.
According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, the Lakers felt like they "got played" by Leonard. As Windhorst explained on his recent podcast:
“I’ve heard complaints in the days after the signing. I heard complaints from the Lakers that they got played. I heard complaints from the Raptors that Kawhi came in and asked for the sun, the moon, the stars then left them at the altar.”
"The implication: Leonard knew all along wasn’t signing with the Lakers, waited a week into free agency so other top free agents would commit elsewhere then announced his decision just to sabotage the Lakers.”