The Los Angeles Lakers made the smart decision to hold off on signing any free agents until they knew the decision of Kawhi Leonard as they were firmly in Leonard’s top three, but nobody ever knew where they stood on his list.
In the end, Leonard chose the Los Angeles Clippers, bringing Paul George with him via a trade that the former had been trying to orchestrate since the beginning of free agency.
It was a move that made many realize that Leonard’s goal was always to get to the Clippers and that the Lakers were always simply a back-up option if the George trade fell through.