Celtics reportedly made an offer for Kawhi Leonard at trade deadline -- should they go after him again?

Danny Ainge is never done in his search for stars and that aggressive mentality apparently continued during this past season. According to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com, the Celtics made an offer for Kawhi Leonard at the trade deadline back in February that the Spurs turned down. San Antonio made no counter proposal after receiving the offer.

I speculated about the possibility that the Celtics would target Leonard back in February on Boston Sports Journal. It's far from a sure thing that Leonard will be on the trade market at all this summer as the Spurs try to make amends with him by potentially offering him a supermax extension (five years, $219 million). Ultimately, they may have no choice but to deal him if he won't agree to commit to San Antonio this summer before entering the final year of his deal.

But there are a couple questions swirling that Celtics fans are going to want some answers to.

1. What could have been in the offer for Leonard back in February?

2. Would the Celtics even make the same offer now that they did back in February?

3. How aggressively should the Celtics target Leonard this summer if he does hit the market?

Let's go through these questions one by one.

1. The salary matching in a Leonard deal was fairly easy from Boston's perspective since Leonard is on a below-market deal like Kyrie Irving. He earned just $18.9 million last season and is set to earn $20.1 million in the final guaranteed year of his deal this upcoming season before he opts out.

Any realistic package for Leonard would have to start with one of the young Celtics stars to get even remote consideration from the Spurs. Assuming the Celtics value Jayson Tatum over Jaylen Brown, my guess is Brown would have been a part of that offer.

From there, a couple of good value contracts (Marcus Morris, Terry Rozier) would get the Celtics close to matching the $18 million needed in outgoing salary, while giving the Spurs some decent movable value. Another rookie (Guerschon Yabusele/Semi Ojeleye/Abdel Nader) would have been enough for the salary to match. From Boston's perspective, that's a decent starting bid. It's also probably one that the Spurs would not strongly consider if they had no interest in moving Leonard.

2. After breakout performances from Rozier and Brown in the playoffs and the uncertainty surrounding Leonard has after final year of his deal, I certainly don't think that the Celtics would increase their offer by much at all now. It's possible Ainge would even be somewhat hesitant to offer this deal now. It certainly looks better than it did four months ago to San Antonio. Rozier needs to be paid next summer so his value is more limited with just one year remaining on his deal.

3. The need for Leonard now seems a little diminished after this postseason run. Like Irving, Leonard is going to command a huge new deal next summer and he wouldn't be able to commit to an extension as part of any deal (C's can't offer a good one due to CBA rules). There would also be serious long-term salary issues with Hayward, Leonard and Irving all on max deals. Horford would need to take a serious paycut if he wanted to stick around (once his current deal expires). There would be limited financial flexibility with a huge luxury tax bill in the cards, so the supporting cast would consist of plenty of rookie deals and bargain contracts.

Based on this and the Spurs' asking price (Brown and picks would seem certain to go) it's not a sure thing the Celtics would want to engage again here unless they found the right price point in trade negotiations. That seems easier said than done. This is certainly something to monitor over the remainder of the summer, but a deal seems less likely than it did a few months ago. Ainge's alternatives may end up being more appealing.