After a five-point loss to the Golden State Warriors (37-45) on Wednesday, the season is officially over for Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers (42-40).
With just one year and $50 million left on his contract, Kawhi is set to return for at least one more season in Los Angeles, but there’s also a chance he’s already played his last game with the franchise. According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, the Clippers are reconsidering all their loyalties ahead of a pivotal offseason.
“The season-ending loss to the Warriors was noteworthy for another reason,” wrote Shelburne. “In February, the Warriors were among the teams that called the Clippers to inquire about Leonard’s availability after the Harden trade, according to multiple sources. Though those talks fizzled, there is an expectation they could be revisited in the offseason, sources said.”
When asked about his future, Kawhi said little to provide clarity. Fresh off the season-ending loss, he’s still trying to accept defeat before he puts any thoughts into what comes next. Still, there are a lot of questions looming for Leonard and what his situation might look like next season. After averaging 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.9 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game on 50.5% shooting and 38.7% shooting from three, he just had one of his best campaigns ever, and it was the biggest factor in the Clippers’ miraculous turnaround.
For a while, there was some real hope that the Clippers could make a run, but that ended this week, and now the hard work begins of trying to rebuild. The question is, what direction will they go? With Leonard, Darius Garland, Brook Lopez, and Bennedict Mathurin, the Clippers could run it back and try to make one last title run in Kawhi’s final season. They would need to make further moves to improve the roster, but there is a path to being competitive if that’s what they desire.
Alternatively, the Clippers could trade their 34-year-old star in exchange for young players and picks that would help them build a new identity. After the kind of season he had, Leonard’s value is relatively high, and this summer is arguably the best time to trade him, considering his expiring contract.
At his age, not every team would be lining up to make an offer on Kawhi, but every contender with a slim chance should be picking up the phone. As a two-time champion, two-time Finals MVP, and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Leonard is the kind of acquisition that shuffles the NBA hierarchy. Specifically, he’d be an ideal fit for an older team in need of firepower on the wing. That means teams like the Warriors, Heat, or Bucks (if they keep Giannis) will be the first ones in line.
In the end, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens with Kawhi, but much hinges on that ongoing salary cap circumvention investigation. It’s been nearly a year now since the story first broke, and it involves a scheme by Clippers owner Steve Ballmer to pay his superstar millions of dollars without it counting against the cap. If found guilty, the Clippers may not have to worry about trading Kawhi because his contract could be voided entirely. In that event, they’d be losing him for nothing in return, a massive blow for the organization.
For Kawhi, it hardly matters the outcome of that scandal. With his season over now and whispers of a split with the organization, his mission is to stay focused on what he can control. His fate is in the Clippers’ hands now, and their future is anything but secure right now, in the aftermath of several major trades that reshaped the roster.
