The Clippers may have been better off swallowing their pride and making a deal with Golden State.
Instead, when the Warriors came calling for Kawhi Leonard at February’s mid-season trade deadline, L.A. passed. Now the Clippers are staring at a return from Toronto that looks worse in more than one way, especially with the league’s investigation into salary cap circumvention set to send the Raptors’ package through after the fact.
The framework with Toronto still gives the Clippers a decent haul. They’re positioned to get two unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 first-round swap, two second-rounders, plus Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick. On paper, that’s not nothing.
But it also doesn’t erase the fact that the Warriors reportedly got close to landing Leonard, according to Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard, and the Clippers chose not to engage. While no one knows the exact offer Golden State put on the table, the reporting around the Giannis Antetokounmpo speculation before the deadline points toward a package built around Draymond Green and Jonathan Kuminga, plus two or three first-round picks.
That kind of structure might have made more sense for the Clippers than what they’re now stuck with.
Leonard’s stock was hardly in the gutter, either. Even with the questions around the investigation and the punishment that followed, he was coming off a huge year, averaging 27.9 points and finishing seventh in MVP voting.
The bigger issue for Los Angeles is what happens next. After the league took away five first-round picks earlier this week, the Clippers have effectively been pushed into a corner where free agency becomes the main way to build out the roster over the next near decade.
That’s where the Toronto deal starts to look even shakier. Ingram is on the books for the next two seasons at nearly $82 million. Maybe the Clippers are fine with that because the 29-year-old is good enough to keep them in the mix, but Golden State’s version would have given them a cleaner financial path.
Kuminga would have offered a more flexible, experimental route, the kind Atlanta took before deciding whether to exercise the team option. And even if Green had exercised his $27.7 million player option before free agency, that would still have been one less year of money than what the Clippers are committing to Ingram.
The picks matter, too, but not all future firsts carry the same weight. Some would rather have the Warriors’ future draft capital tied to life after Stephen Curry. The Raptors’ 2031 and 2033 picks are far off, but Scottie Barnes is still young enough that Toronto could be a playoff team by then.
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How the Warriors handle those early weeks may matter well beyond the standings. A steady start would buy time and preserve options, while a stumble could push the front office toward harder choices about whether to lean into the present or keep an eye on the future when free agency comes back into focus. [Read more 🡒]