The LA Clippers won't renew Bruce Bowen's contract for next season in the aftermath of the television analyst's comments on San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Clippers feel they will have a chance to snag the Toronto Raptors forward in 2019 free agency, as he has expressed his desire to play in Los Angeles.
Bowen, a former Spurs player and known Gregg Popovich loyalist, criticized Leonard for the myriad storylines that surrounded him during his bizarre saga over the last year, none of which were directly attributed to him, but rather the narrative around him through sources.
“I think there's nothing but excuses going on,” Bowen told Sirius XM Radio on June 22. “First, it was, ‘Well I was misdiagnosed.' Look here: You got $18 million this year, and you think that they're trying to rush you? You didn't play for the most part a full season this year. And you're the go-to guy, you're the franchise, and you want to say that they didn't have your best interest at heart? Are you kidding me?”
“I think he's getting bad advice,” Bowen told Sirius. “I think what you're starting to see now is an individual given a certain amount of advice and it's not the right advice. Here it is: You were protected in San Antonio. You were able to come up during a time where you still could lean on Tim (Duncan), Tony (Parker) and Manu (Ginobili).”
It's obvious that Leonard represents the best shot the Clippers have at making a climb back to relevance now that Lob City is all but a distant memory with Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan all parting ways with the franchise.
The organization won't let Bowen or any other complication get between them and Leonard, known to be a top-five player in the league when healthy.
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