- Los Angeles Clippers insider Ohm Youngmisuk reveals the team isn’t rushing to hand Kawhi Leonard an extension
- Leonard has missed significant time with injuries during his stint with the Clippers
- Kawhi could become a free agent in 2024
Kawhi Leonard is one of the very best players in the NBA when healthy, but the problem is that the injury bug never stays away from him for too long. With that in mind, the Los Angeles Clippers had a big decision to make this offseason regarding his future.
Leonard has been eligible to sign an extension since this month but nothing has happened yet and Clippers insider Ohm Youngmisuk says it’s all quiet on that front right now.
“I hear it’s kind of quiet right now,” Youngmisuk said. “There is no rush on an extension for Kawhi Leonard, and then Paul George will be eligible in September.”
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The 2023 playoffs saw the best and worst of the Leonard experience for the Clippers. Against the Phoenix Suns, he averaged 34.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 6.0 APG, 2.0 SPG, and 0.5 BPG, but the problem was he could only play in two games and missed the rest of the series due to injury.
His talent is undeniable, but it is also undeniable that you cannot rely on him to stay healthy at this point. Leonard, who just turned 32 last month, only managed to play 52 games last season and injury-prone players like him don’t get healthier as they age. It was reported that the Clippers won’t just hand him or Paul George four-year max extensions if they asked for it and you can’t blame them.
The problem though is that Leonard could just walk next summer as he has a player option for the 2024-25 campaign worth $48.8 million. If he leaves, the Clippers will enter a rebuild and that’s not something they’d be all that keen on, considering they don’t own some of their upcoming draft picks thanks to the George trade.
Tyronn Lue Had A Stern Message For Kawhi Leonard And Paul George
One of the biggest criticisms of Leonard and George and the Clippers, in general, is that they don’t take the regular season seriously. It has come back to bite them in one way or the other and head coach Tyronn Lue knows that the time has come for a change.
He revealed recently during an appearance on the “All The Smoke” podcast that he had told both his stars that they need to take the regular season seriously. Lue claimed that both Leonard and George understood that as well, but time will tell if they really did.
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