The Los Angeles Clippers signaled the end of their contending window when they dealt James Harden and Ivica Zubac at the trade deadline, leaving Kawhi Leonard as the sole superstar left on the team. And now, people are cooking up ways for the Clippers to deal him as well.
FanSided’s Christopher Kline is one of those people, as he believes that the Clippers could deal him to a division rival in the Golden State Warriors this offseason. The Warriors are trying to form one last contender around Stephen Curry, and getting another superstar near his timeline seems like a smart idea.
“The Clippers just became the first team in NBA history to move above .500 after dropping 15 games below .500 earlier in the same season. It has been a miraculous turnaround for the Clippers, led almost entirely at this point by Kawhi Leonard, who is enjoying his most productive regular season at 34 years old…Assuming L.A. does not topple the Western Conference giants, however, it’s clear L.A. is preparing for a future without Leonard. There won’t be many more opportunities to trade a mid-30s star with his injury history for actual value. Plus, the Clippers might want to quiet the noise around this tree-planting scandal. As such, the Clippers trading Leonard and finally hitting the reset button is entirely plausible. Trading him to a division rival might be a bridge too far, but Kawhi-Steph-Draymond is a fun old man trio for the Warriors to go out swinging with,” Kline wrote.
So far this season, Leonard is averaging 28.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and two steals in 32 minutes per game. He’s the heart of the Clippers roster, and he would be an amazing piece next to Curry and Jimmy Butler.
He’d also make sense for them as well financially. He’d be on the final year of a three-year, $149 million deal, and Curry himself has one year left on his contract as well. So, the Clippers have an opportunity they can’t waste here.
While it’s weird to trade their star in-division, they need a lifeline. They don’t have any draft capital or young stars to truly build around save for Darius Garland and Bennedict Mathurin, so while it hurts, this is a deal they need to make.
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