Clippers rumors: L.A. emerging as front-runner for Kawhi Leonard

The Los Angeles Clippers are emerging as a front-runner for Toronto Raptors small forward Kawhi Leonard when he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2019, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The L.A. Clippers are emerging as a front-runner for Toronto Raptors small forward Kawhi Leonard if he becomes an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2019, according to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Leonard is widely expected to decline his 2019-20 player option with the Raptors and enter the open market. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year is from the California area.

A two-time All-Star, Leonard is a low-maintenance guy who wants to stay away from the media hoopla that comes with playing on a LeBron James-led team, which explains why Leonard reportedly prefers to play for the Clippers over the Lakers.

In July, The Athletic’s Shams Charania suggested in an appearance on The Herd With Collin Cowherd that Leonard might not be enamored playing for the Lakers now that James is on the team. James signed a four-year free agent deal with the Lakers.

“I don’t think Kawhi Leonard is jumping for joy now that LeBron is a Laker,” Charania said. “If anything, he’ll be more open to joining the Clippers now.”

Leonard requested a trade from the San Antonio Spurs this offseason after only playing in nine games last season due to a lingering quadriceps injury. He was cleared by team doctors to return but was never given the go signal by his own doctors to play, causing tension between Leonard and the Spurs.

Tony Parker's comments about his quad injury being “a hundred times worse” than the ailment Leonard dealt with was the “last straw” for Leonard, according to Wojnarowski. Parker and Manu Ginobili reportedly led a players-only meeting in which Spurs veterans asked Leonard whether he planned to return. Leonard was caught off guard by the meeting and left the team for New York to rehab his injury.

Jimmy Butler, who has requested a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves, is reportedly most determined to find a way to play for the Clippers. If the Clippers are somehow able to acquire Butler before the season starts, and sign Leonard next summer, they will possess arguably a couple of the best two-way players in the league.