Kawhi Leonard dropped a bombshell on the San Antonio Spurs last week as he requested a trade away from the team.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the small forward has informed the franchise of his desire to move back to his hometown of Los Angeles and preferably sign with the Lakers.

After being made aware of these developments, the Lakers reportedly took the first steps to engage in trade discussions with San Antonio but their attempt proved to be unsuccessful.

That's according to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne who reported on Thursday that after L.A. made contact, they "immediately felt the Spurs had no intention of engaging in any dialogue."

One Lakers source told Shelburne, "They basically shut the door on us."

"When the Lakers called to express interest in Leonard, they were given the distinct impression the Spurs had no interest in doing business with them," she said.

No players were discussed in the deal and Wojnarowski stated that there has been no further dialogue between the teams.

Playing hardball

It's clear that the Spurs are not willing to easily facilitate the move that their star player wants to make.

Giving in to his demands and strengthening a conference rival is certainly not what they have in mind.

But speaking after the draft last night, general manager R.C. Buford indicated that they will explore all of their options but insisted that keeping Leonard is still their top priority.

"Kawhi and his family mean a lot to our organisation and to the community," Buford said, per ESPN's Michael C. Wright.

"While none of us would wish we are where we are, we're going to do what we can to build the best relationship we can with him, and we'll explore all of our options.

"But the first one would be to do what we can to keep Kawhi as a part of our group."

Head coach Gregg Popovich reportedly met with the two-time Defensive Player of the Year earlier this week as they held discussions about his future and how they can fix their broken relationship.

But it seems this may be irreparable as the 26-year-old is disappointed with the way the organisation dealt with his quad injury throughout the year.

The two-time All-Star is eligible to sign a five-year, $219 million super max contract with the Spurs this summer but he's reportedly willing to turn that down to get a move to the Lakers.

It's hard to see an outcome from this saga soon but it's apparent that Kawhi's days in Texas are numbered.

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