The Los Angeles Clippers are surging into the new year. The Clippers enter the week riding the NBA’s longest winning streak at four games after demolishing the Eastern Conference-leading Detroit Pistons on Sunday night behind a virtuoso performance from Kawhi Leonard. There’s only one problem: LA was so bad before this little winning streak that it still remains near the bottom of the league, sitting with the fifth-worst record in the NBA despite owing their unprotected first-round draft pick to the reigning champion Thunder from the doomed Paul George trade.
The Clippers were supposed to be pretty good this year if not exactly a championship contender. I had Los Angeles at No. 9 in my preseason power rankings, betting that they improved their depth enough to offset the loss of Norm Powell while believing veteran superstars Leonard and James Harden still had enough gas in the tank to sustain All-Star level play. What I didn’t envision was the Clippers’ defense completely falling apart, dropping from No. 3 in team defensive rating last season to No. 26 so far this year. Leonard and Harden have both been very good, but it hasn’t mattered when the defense is completely incapable of getting stops.
To say the Clippers are in a tough spot both now and in the future is putting it mildly. They don’t control their first round pick until 2030, with their 2026 pick going outright to OKC, 2027 owed to OKC in a swap, 2028 owed unprotected to the Philadelphia 76ers, and 2029 swap rights owed to the Sixers. Los Angeles’ plan seemed to be to compete in 2026 and 2027, then try to land a new franchise star in 2027 free agency when everyone but Ivica Zubac comes off the books and they have max cap space.
Obviously, this team isn’t competing for anything at 10-21 overall right now, and an aging roster should only be worse next season. At some point, the Clippers will have to come to grips with reality and realize that even if they can sneak into the final spot of the Western Conference play-in race ahead of Portland and Dallas, the grand prize at the end is getting crushed by the Thunder in the first-round. Instead, the Clippers should be sending the highlights of Leonard’s 55-point masterpiece against the Pistons to every other team in the league to see if they can find any trade suitors.
The big names on the NBA trade block are well known as the calendar flips to 2026. The Mavericks would probably move Anthony Davis for the right price, and the same goes for the Pelicans and Zion Williamson, the Hawks and Trae Young, the Grizzlies and Ja Morant, and the Kings and anyone on the roster. It still isn’t hard to envision a scenario where Leonard is the most appealing name on the trade block, especially with Mavs ownership reportedly now questioning whether they really want to sell low on Davis.
Why would any team want Leonard, an injury-prone 34-year-old who’s rarely available and is famously hard to work with? I can think of a few reasons:
- A team trading for Kawhi now would get two playoff runs with him before his contract expires
- He has a $50.3 million expiring contract next year that could be used as a trade piece or to reset the books
- He’s still the best “two-way” candidate on the potential trade market with dominant mid-range scoring, knockdown shooting, and traces of his former Defensive Player of the Year self even if he can’t summon it every possession at this age.
Kawhi rates in the 97th percentile of offense and 63rd percentile of defense this year, according to EPM. He’s played 21 out of 31 games so far, making this one of his more reliable seasons. You can make an All-NBA case for him even if the Clippers are so bad that it will never happen.
The only problem is that it’s hard to find a deal that would allow the Clippers to maintain their 2027 max cap space while also matching Leonard’s salary and fitting into the apron rules. At the same time, the opportunity to actually add draft picks should be enticing to LA even if it requires additional work to get its cap space back.
Of course I have a fake trade for you, and it’s a diabolical one:
This trade would bring Leonard back to the Raptors where he won the 2019 NBA championship, and also give Toronto a viable backup big man they desperately need in Brook Lopez. It costs an unprotected 2027 first-round pick and a swap in 2029, but the Raptors can talk themselves into a Kawhi deal giving them a puncher’s chance in a weak East. Hey, it worked out great the first time.
As much as I’m tempted to follow this with a fake Kawhi trade to the Spurs, I just don’t see San Antonio doing that the way it’s rolling right now. So here’s another idea:
The Lakers deciding to trade Austin Reaves for Kawhi would be an incredibly bold move just because of the seven-year age difference. At the same time, the Lakers need to ask themselves if they really want to give Reaves a big contract in free agency this summer when he’s always going to have defensive issues next to Luka Doncic. I honestly wouldn’t do this one as the Lakers, but it’s fun to think about.
The Pistons are leading the East, and they just saw how great Kawhi still is with the double-nickel he just dropped on them. Robinson’s salary is only guaranteed for $2 million after next season, and Harris is expiring after this year, so this would keep the Clippers’ 2027 cap space in order. Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, and Leonard without giving up Ron Holland, Ausar Thompson, or Jaden Ivey sounds like a great deal for Detroit.
There will be pushback from people who say Leonard won’t want to play for another franchise outside of LA. Too bad: he’s paid a lot of money to play basketball, and he doesn’t have a say in the matter with a no-trade clause. Leonard didn’t want to play for Toronto either ahead of the 2018-19 season, and his performance that year will be the defining part of his legacy.
A Kawhi trade makes the Clippers more likely to give up a high pick to the Thunder this year, but they shouldn’t be worrying about what’s already a sunk cost. At this point, the Clippers need to realize the Kawhi era is already over in terms of a competitive window, and try to squeeze some future assets out of him to help build their next contender.
With the Aspiration scandal still hanging over them and a real playoff run firmly out of reach, now is the time for the Clippers to finally get out of the Kawhi business and prioritize their future. He can still help another team try to win a championship, but that team sure as hell isn’t the Clippers.
