Kawhi Leonard's Future With the Clippers Takes a Turn as Trade Rumors Heat Up
The Los Angeles Clippers 2025-26 season was rocky. They opened 5-16, then went 2-3 in November alone, the worst single month in franchise history. By Thanksgiving, it looked like their season might already be over.
Then they rallied, traded James Harden to Cleveland in exchange for Darius Garland, shipped Ivica Zubac to Indiana for Bennedict Mathurin, and clawed back all the way to 42-40, earning the No. 9 seed and a spot in the Play-In. Though they got sent home by the Golden State Warriors, it was a strong finish for a team many had counted out early on.
Now, they enter the offseason with serious question marks around their biggest star, Kawhi Leonard.
On Friday, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon dropped a bombshell on “The Hoop Collective,” noting that if there’s going to be any extension with Leonard in L.A., “there’s going to be some legitimate negotiations” and that he’ll have to take a pay cut.
“He’s due $50.3 million this season. That was slightly less than max, not a lot less than max, but slightly less than max. My understanding is if there's going to be an extension, there's going to be some legitimate negotiations,” MacMahon said. “This isn't just, ‘Can you take a little haircut?' He's going to have to take a pay cut, I believe, to extending with the Clippers. So, you know, we’ll see. I think it's extend him with a pay cut or explore the trade market. I think those are the two real options.”
“Obviously, with this youth movement, they've positioned themselves to where hey, if it's explore the trade market, they've already kind of started the post-Kawhi transition despite the fact that they still have some picks that they owe,” he added.
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Leonard is coming off arguably the best season of his career. He averaged a career-high 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.9 steals over 32.1 minutes across 65 games. He was named to his seventh All-Star Game, earned All-NBA Second Team honors for the fourth time in his career and remains one of the best players in basketball.
The issue is that he’s owed $50.3 million next season and is eligible for a two-year maximum extension worth around $126.1 million. With Leonard set to turn 35 years old on June 29, the Clippers want to negotiate something below that figure.
L.A. already added young talent and appears focused on building for the future. The idea of committing another maximum contract to an aging superstar doesn’t make sense. The Clippers are getting younger, cheaper, and increasingly built around the franchise’s next era. Leonard was expected to help bridge that transition, but if he won’t take a pay cut, he’ll probably be on the way out.
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The option now is either for Leonard to accept a discount to stay home in L.A. or force a trade to another contender who can pay market value.
Teams like the Warriors, Miami Heat, and Detroit Pistons have been floated for months, and now it’s starting to look more and more like his days in a Clippers uniform might be numbered.
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This story was originally published June 19, 2026 at 2:48 PM.