Report: Sixers Believe They Can Land Kawhi Leonard, Get Him to Stay in Philly

With the Sixers ownership group meeting with LeBron James's reps today in LA, they still believe they have a real chance to land Kawhi Leonard in a trade, and plan to use it as their top selling point in their meeting with James' agent Rich Paul, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times.

As we discussed on Friday's edition of The Sports Bash on 97.3 ESPN, with Jake Fischer of Sports illustrated, the Sixers package centers around Robert Covington and Dario Saric along with the 2021 draft pick they obtained on draft night from the Suns.

According to a report, the Sixers are unwilling to move Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid or Markelle Fultz in any deal involving Leonard.

"When the time does come to make that legitimate offer and those scenarios that I list in the report which meant Dario Saric and Robert Covington by name and the potential first round draft pick," Fischer told the Sports Bash.  "Those are the scenarios that the front office has brought to Sixers ownership’s attention, be it David Blitzer or Joshua Harris."

"From preliminary conversations with the Spurs, they have made it very clear to the Sixers that Dario Saric is a very very primary target that they would like in return of a hypothetical Kawhi Leonard trade to Philadelphia," Fischer continued. 

"They also like Robert Covington. So, with that in mind, what happens with that information…the front office takes the Spurs’ preferences, collaborates that with players they would hypothetically be willing to move in a trade for Kawhi Leonard, they come up with a package that is kind of in the middle of that venn diagram, and they send those scenarios to ownership."

The one hang up on a deal for Leonard has been if he would he commit to staying in Philadelphia or any other team in a trade.  There has been much speculation that he wants to be in LA, and that any trade would end up for his services would end up being a one year rental.

But that might not be the base if he is in Philadelphia. They believe they can get him to consider staying in Philadelphia if they made a move for him, according to ESPN's Ian Begley.

While the Sixers interest "remains strong", the Spurs might want more then the Sixers are willing to spend, per Jordan Schultz, San Antonio is asking for three future first-round picks and two current players.