Fresh off signing a three-year contract extension worth over $152 million, Kawhi Leonard helped lead the Los Angeles Clippers to a win over his former team in the Toronto Raptors. He then went about his night like it was just another regular night in Clipperland.
The day started with Leonard and the Clippers agreeing to a contract extension that's projected to come in between $152 million and $153 million. The deal, which includes the declining of his 2024-25 player option and also a 15 percent trade kicker, locks Leonard in with the Clippers through the 2026-27 season.
Leonard would go on to lead the Clippers to a 126-120 victory over the Raptors by scoring 29 points and seven assists with no turnovers on 10-of-18 shooting from the field.
Kawhi Leonard speaks on Clippers contract extension
After the win, Leonard took to the podium, where he answered questions about his newly signed deal.
“I mean it was just time,” Leonard told reporters. “There's really nothing to pinpoint a specific date on it. It was just time to do it and then it just happened.”
Kawhi Leonard took fewer years and less money than he had on the table, but this ultimately is a deal that prioritized getting him guaranteed money, per ESPN's Woj.
“We’ve had ongoing conversations throughout, and we’re in contact obviously, with Kawhi [Leonard], but also with his representatives,” Clippers president Lawrence Frank said Wednesday. “It just made sense from both sides. I think we both wanted the same thing. We wanted Kawhi to be a Clipper for a very long time, and Kawhi wants to be a Clipper for a very long time. We wanted to put the focus on the team, and at the same time it came together where it made sense. Where it was a very fair deal for both sides.”
Frank called the extension signing “inevitable.”
“We both wanted the same thing,” Frank reiterated. “In any negotiation, you talk, you table it, you talk, you table it, but there was never any doubt that it was going to happen, it was just a matter of when. We circled up and spoke again to update where we were at. A wise man in sports told me this a long time ago about decision-making, ‘if it’s inevitable, do it.’ We knew this union was going to happen. We both wanted it to happen and we came to an agreement, let’s do it now.”
When asked about the conversations he'd had with James Harden and Paul George, Kawhi Leonard appeared very optimistic that his Clippers co-stars will also get new deals with the team.
“With the conversation that I have with 'em about it, I think for the most part everybody is coming back,” Leonard explained. “So with me signing an extension, I think it gives us a chance to sign both of those players.”
By the end of his deal, Kawhi Leonard will be 35 years of age. By that time, there's a chance the two-time NBA Finals MVP catches a bit of a fall-off. Then again, he still has one of the most strategic and methodical playing styles that we've ever seen.
In 22 appearances for th Clippers this season, Kawhi Leonard is averaging 24.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game on 51.8 percent shooting from the field and 43.2 percent from three. He's a candidate for 2024 NBA All-Star Game, and it wouldn't be surprising to see him reach that and an All-NBA Team if he's able to sustain this level of health and play.
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