The rivalry between Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is no secret.
That being said, a recent report from Skip Bayless indicates that the relationship goes beyond a mere rivalry.
Recently, Bayless went so far as to say that he thinks Leonard simply doesn’t like James.
"I'm pretty sure that Kawhi is not a huge fan of LeBron. I'm pretty sure that even as a high school junior, he wasn't a fan…It's been written about repeatedly: Kawhi Leonard was a huge Jordan fan."
— @RealSkipBayless on Kawhi declining an invite to LeBron's skills camp in 2008 pic.twitter.com/p22uTmQO5V
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) March 30, 2020
“I believe that Kawhi was already in the mode of ‘I don’t want to up there and have to kiss his you know what,'” Bayless said of Leonard’s decision to decline an invitation to James’ skills camp in 2008.
It’s very possible that that very same mentality played a large role in Leonard ultimately choosing to sign with the Clippers last summer despite being hotly pursued by the Lakers.
Prior to the stoppage of play due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, Leonard and James seemed to be destined to meet in this season’s Western Conference Finals.
With the number of people infected around the country and world steadily climbing, it now seems quite possible that the playoffs for this season will not take place for many months, if ever.
Hopefully, that unfortunate outcome does not prove to be necessary and the NBA gets to start back up in a month or two.
After all, no matter how fascinating the storylines regarding James and Leonard are off the court, what fans really want to see is the continuation of the storylines on the court.
So far in the 2019-20 season, the Clippers lead the Lakers 2-1 in head-to-head matchups. The Lakers won the most recent matchup, 112-103, on March 8.
Just a few days later, the NBA postponed all games.
