Kawhi Leonard Trade Needs to Happen, Says NBA Champion

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Kawhi Leonard #2 of the LA Clippers.

Despite losing Paul George in the 2024 NBA free agency period, the Clippers are not exactly entering a rebuilding period, with veteran stars Kawhi Leonard and James Harden under contract for several more years.

However, former NBA Champion Kendrick Perkins has urged Leonard to seek a trade from the Clippers and look for opportunities elsewhere to contend for a title.

“If I’m Kawhi Leonard, I would ask to get out of there,” Perkins said on ESPN’s “NBA Today” on July 1. “Because, as a guy who has won two NBA championships, he knows what a championship team looks like. And that [2024-25 Clippers) is not one of them.”

Following George’s departure in July 2024, the Clippers signed James Jones Jr., Kevin Porter Jr., Mo Bamba, Kris Dunn and Nic Batum. However, Perkins believes none of those players would move the needle enough for Los Angeles to contend for an NBA Championship in the 2024-25 season.

“When you look at what they replaced Paul George with… are you serious? Where are you going with that besides the play-in tournament, battling for a playoff spot, and going home in the first round?”

Clippers Entering a New Arena

After sharing an arena with the Lakers for decades, the Clippers will finally move into their own home, the Intuit Dome, starting with the 2024-25 season. As such, the Steve Ballmer-owned franchise would need some star power to sell fans on the team, making a Leonard trade all the less probable. That said, Perkins urged the Clippers to move past Leonard, who joined the franchise as a free agent in 2019.

“I know they’ve got to putt butts in the seats [in the new arena], but damn it, they might have to reconsider who their next superstar is going to be. It’s probably time to go into  rebuild mode,” Perkins said of the Clippers.

End of Leonard-George Era

In 2019, the Clippers became overwhelming NBA title favorites when Leonard, the then-reigning NBA Champion, linked up with George, who finished third in the MVP voting in the 2018-19 season. As such, Los Angeles had assembled a super duo.

However, the duo’s time in Los Angeles was marred by injuries and misfortune. In their five years together, the Clippers made the Conference Finals only once, in 2021. While Leonard finished only one playoff run healthy, in 2020, George was marred by injuries in 2022 and 2023. Essentially, the only time the duo survived the gauntlet of an NBA postseason was during th 2020 Orlando Bubble when they blew a 3-1 series lead to the Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals.

Ultimately, the Clippers front-0ffice decided that keeping Leonard and George together was far too expensive a strategy, especially in the new lay of the land in the NBA that precludes second-apron teams from going overboard with spending.

According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, the Clippers internally gave up hope on a Leonard-George duo to bring them an elusive NBA Championship. Furthermore, the Clippers wanted to avoid getting into repeater luxury tax territory for a team unable to compete for championships.

“The more the Clippers studied its [new CBA] ramifications, the more determined they were to avoid its harsh restrictions,” Shelburne wrote on July 2. “Teams who went over the wall, to extend the “Game of Thrones” metaphor, had basically no way of coming back. Whichever players you have under contract are the players you have to keep. Trades are nearly impossible to execute. Even small moves, like buying a draft pick, aren’t allowed for second-apron teams.”

George will suit up for the Philadelphia 76ers starting with the 2024-25 season.

Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan