The Kawhi Leonard era in Los Angeles started with championship confetti in the imagination and ends, apparently, with a team that didn’t even make the playoffs. Six years, one conference finals appearance, three straight first-round exits from 2022 to 2025, and now the Clippers are sitting at home while other teams play for a ring. It’s not exactly what everyone had in mind when Leonard chose LA over staying in Toronto back in 2019.
But here’s the weird part. At 34 years old and coming off arguably the best regular season of his career, Leonard might actually have more trade value right now than he’s had in years. Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin O’Connor made the case pretty bluntly: the Clippers would be foolish not to move him.
“The Clippers are foolish if they don’t trade Leonard. At age 34, he just had the best regular season of his entire career, posting 28 points on nearly 50-40-90 (shooting splits), while playing 65 games. And even that only makes the case stronger for the ultimate sell-high to end a disastrous era,” O’Connor wrote.
The numbers back him up. Leonard shot the lights out, played more games than he has in years, and looked like the old Kawhi. But the Clippers have been down this road before. He gets healthy, looks incredible, then something goes wrong in the postseason or he misses time with another injury. The cycle is exhausting. And now there’s the added mess of that whole Aspiration thing — a now-defunct company backed by owner Steve Ballmer that reportedly helped the team get around salary cap rules. Leonard’s name has come up in that investigation, and it’s another layer of complication the front office probably doesn’t want hanging over next season.
According to ClutchPoints’ Tomer Azarly, the Toronto Raptors have put together an offer centered around Brandon Ingram, but the Clippers aren’t thrilled with that package. They’re reportedly insisting on rookie Collin Murray-Boyles being included along with future draft assets. The Dallas Mavericks are also sniffing around with a deal that includes PJ Washington, Klay Thompson, and draft capital.
The Raptors make sense — they already won one title with Kawhi, and a reunion would be a nice story. The Mavs are more interesting, though it’s hard to see Dallas giving up too much for a 34-year-old with Leonard’s health history.
Azarly also noted that Ballmer and the Clippers still want to keep Leonard unless he asks out or someone blows them away with an offer. But that feels like the standard party line. Teams always say they’re committed until they’re not.
Leonard is entering the final year of his deal, and the Clippers have nothing to show for this whole experiment except a bunch of load management jokes and one decent playoff run. If they can get a young foundation piece, a couple of picks, and clear cap space for a real rebuild, it might be the smartest move they’ve made in years.
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