The Lakers’ pursuit of Leonard, a two-time N.B.A. defensive player of the year, could hinge on San Antonio’s willingness to trade him to its longtime Western Conference rivals, especially since the Spurs naturally fear that the acquisition of Leonard would lead to the Lakers’ adding James or George, or both.

But Leonard’s reported desire to play out the final season of his contract and sign with the Lakers in July 2019 as a free agent could prevent teams such as Boston and Philadelphia from matching the Lakers’ best trade offer for Leonard. The Lakers could assemble a trade package featuring highly rated up-and-coming players such as Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart as well as multiple first-round picks.

The Lakers could likewise decide that it’s counterproductive to give up so much in a trade for Leonard if he is willing to sign with them in free agency in a year. That’s the painful conclusion the Knicks reached after they gave up so much to acquire the All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony in February 2011 and struggled thereafter to build a quality roster around him.

The Lakers, though, took the patient approach a year ago when the Indiana Pacers made George available via trade, figuring that they would be able to comfortably sign him this summer. The Thunder jumped in, however, with a trade for George, who has enjoyed his time alongside the All-Star guard Russell Westbrook and has given increased consideration in recent weeks to staying in Oklahoma City — perhaps on a two-year deal that would allow George to return to free agency as early as July 2019.

Another factor affecting Leonard’s fate is his health. The lingering effects from a mysterious quadriceps injury limited the 2014 N.B.A. finals M.V.P. to nine games last season and could make teams like Boston — the club widely hailed as possessing the league’s most attractive collection of trade pieces — hesitant to make the Spurs an asset-rich offer.

San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich recently met face-to-face with Leonard in San Diego in an attempted first step toward repairing the team’s fractured partnership with its best player. But the summit appears to have done little to dampen Leonard’s desire to move on, despite the fact that San Antonio is the only team in the league capable of offering him a five-year “supermax” extension between mid-July and mid-October worth an estimated $219 million.

The frosty state of the partnership was clear during San Antonio’s first-round playoff loss to Golden State, when Leonard, 26, continued his injury rehabilitation away from the team and attended none of the Spurs’ five postseason games. ESPN reported this month that Leonard felt “the franchise turned on him” during the season once he started receiving outside treatment for his quadriceps tendinopathy in New York.