What promised to be the start of the greatest era in Los Angeles Clippers history, came to a sad and brutal end, as Kawhi Leonard trade, back to the Toronto Raptors became official today.
Trade Details:
Raptors receive
- Kawhi Leonard
Clippers receive
- Gradey Dick
- Brandon Ingram
- First-round picks in 2031 and 2033
- Second-round picks in 2030 and 2033
- First-round pick swap in 2027
A fresh start for the Clips, who get a talented player in Brandon Ingram and some much needed draft picks, along with a serviceable bench player in Gradey Dick. They did alright on this trade.
When Kawhi Leonard joined the Clippers in July 2019, it marked a new era.
Leonard was coming off a championship with the Toronto Raptors, but he CHOSE the Clippers to be the beneficiaries of his prime. The Clippers did all they could to lure Leonard.
They gave up a massive haul to acquire Paul George from Oklahoma City, giving up a young and promising player in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who would go on to become a two-time league MVP and bring a championship to OKC.
The Clippers went all-in for Leonard. In what was to be the league’s best dynamic duo of George and Leonard. Championship or bust was the expectation. It wasn’t if the Clippers could win an NBA title, it was how many would they win?!
None of that came to fruition. In fact, with Leonard and George, and later on James Harden. The Clippers went through some of their most disappointing years as a franchise. They didn’t even sniff the NBA Finals, much less win one.
Everything that could go wrong, did. Constant injuries kept George and Leonard on the sidelines. They never really got to have a full-healthy season together. George’s play dropped off from the bonafide superstar level, to a mere borderline All-Star. We saw glimpses of dominant Leonard over the six years in LA.
Instead of making frequent noise on the court for his play, Leonard made significant more noise being off-the-court, not playing. Injuries and a perceived lack of desire to suit up for games, left Clipper and NBA fans frustrated.
Multiple playoff failures, just stung. The addition of a Harden, forming a “Big Three” didn’t move the needle. I’d argue Harden was the most available and productive of the bunch.
Kawhi became a face of what’s wrong with the Clippers. The inability to stay healthy combined with the lack of availability to play was damaging to the franchise hopes of competing.
Enter the salary cap circumvention fiasco, where the alleged 2022 scheme where Aspiration Partners, LLC agreed to pay Leonard $28 million over four years, which would avoid the league’s salary restrictions. That ended up crushing the Clippers organization.
Leonard made out with only a slap on the wrist $700K fine, while the Clippers organization was delivered a massive blow.
Now, Leonard gets to leave town and start over at his preferred destination. Sometimes things aren’t fair. Leonard seemed to always be at the center of the Clippers downfalls, any way you look at it.
Gone was SGA, who the Clippers dreaded to trade, but had to due to Leonard’s demands for a co-star. Gone were more than a handful of draft picks, mostly first-rounders that would have transformed the Clippers teams over the last half decade.
In was the massive contracts to George, Harden and Leonard, who had the organizations hands tied. Having to run-it-back year in and year out with the same core, with little money left to fill out a roster with quality players.
Doc Rivers lost his job. Tyronn Lue managed to survive, that’s one thing that the Clippers managed to hold onto, to their benefit. Point is, Leonard left a trail of destruction, now on his way out the team gets docked five first-round picks.
I don’t know what kinda guy Leonard is, but he doesn’t paint himself in a good light. He left the Clippers high and dry in their toughest moment, after all they gave up for him. It’s like a relationship where you desperately try to please your partner and do everything to make them happy, only for them to show up when they wanted to and leave you hanging at the end.
Clippers fans won’t be shedding any tears for Leonard, he was the last remaining member of the “Big Three” that was supposed to bring a championship to the organization.
Instead of being remembered as a franchise icon and greatest player, Leonard’s name will live in infamy, representing what “could” and “should” have been. His signing at the time was the best day in Clippers history, now will go down as arguably the worst (pick that or the salary cap circumvention penalty). His signing started a chain reaction of franchise cripping moves and decisions.
Now that the dust has finally settled on the Kawhi Leonard era (which had some bright individual moments). The organization and fans can’t move on quick enough. It’s a new day. One without Leonard guiding organizational decisions. One where the Clippers finally have a fresh start. It might be bleak for a while, but at least it’s now on their terms going forward.
To the greatest hope of magical Clippers era, good riddance. To new beginnings, welcome.