Kawhi Leonard trade rumors: Toronto, Dallas frontrunners for potential Leonard trade
· Yahoo Sports
It's more than just smoke, there is a real fire — things are ramping up toward a Leonard trade.
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As always, it comes down to money. While the Clippers signaled they were pivoting to a new era — trading away James Harden and Ivica Zubac at the deadline — the plan was to keep Kawhi Leonard around. Owner Steve Ballmer reportedly didn't want to trade him... and then the sides started talking contract extension. Leonard, 35 (as of Monday, happy birthday!), will make $50.2 million this season, and the sides are far apart on what his next contract should look like. The Clippers want him to take a much larger pay cut than he is ready to coming off an All-NBA season.
All of which pivoted to the Clippers talking about trading Leonard, with Toronto and Dallas as the frontrunners. Either way, it's a reunion: A return to Toronto, where he led the team to a title in 2019, or Leonard reunites with the architect of that Toronto title team, Masai Ujiri, in Dallas.
Here are the latest reports on Leonard.
Toronto Raptors
Kawhi Leonard fits in perfectly with the Toronto front office's apparent effort to have everyone on the roster be between 6'6" and 6'9".
Toronto and the Clippers are "seriously engaged in trade talks surrounding Kawhi Leonard," reports ESPN’s Shams Charania. Leonard is reportedly willing to sign an extension with the Raptors (something he did not do after winning the title in 2019). Undoubtedly, parallel to the trade talks, the Raptors and Leonard's camp are working on the extension numbers, and nothing gets done until a handshake deal is in place.
Brandon Ingram is reportedly a key player coming back to Los Angeles (although there are reports LA prefers RJ Barrett), but the Clippers will want draft assets as well. With the looming investigation into Aspiration and alleged salary cap circumvention between the Clippers and Leonard nearing its end, Los Angeles could see many of its own draft picks taken away as punishment and will need the ones it trades for.
Ingram, alongside Darius Garland, would be the kind of floor raiser Los Angeles would want as they work to retool the roster (because nobody wants to be one of the three worst teams and end up with worse lottery odds). Ingram was an All-Star last season, averaging 21.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
Toronto would be an interesting team in the East if Leonard can stay healthy (he played 65 games last season).
Leonard is coming off an All-NBA season in which he averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 38.7% from beyond the arc and playing high-level defense. Leonard and Scottie Barnes would be a pairing of All-NBA-level forwards, combined with Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett (or Ingram), and a center, making for a solid to impressive first five, with Collin Murray-Boyles, the just-drafted Allen Graves, and others coming off the bench.
Dallas Mavericks
Kawhi Leonard with Cooper Flagg would be a dynamic pairing.
Uriri, the new head of basketball operations in Dallas, is looking to make that happen, report Christian Clark, Dan Woike and Sam Amick at The Athletic.
The Mavericks and LA Clippers have discussed a deal that would send the seven-time All-Star to Dallas for a package that would include P.J. Washington, Klay Thompson and draft picks, said league sources granted anonymity to describe deliberations still in progress.
The real question with that description is what draft picks are involved. That would be the most important part of the deal for the Clippers.
However, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer later reported that Dallas was not a "plausible" landing spot for the Clippers star and that talks had slowed.
That may make Toronto the clear frontrunner.