Kawhi Leonard’s strange, failed era with Clippers ends with Raptors trade as NBA investigation still looms
The Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to trade Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors, per ESPN. The deal would send Leonard back to Toronto, where he spent one season and led the Raptors to the 2019 championship — something he was never able to accomplish during a disappointing seven-year tenure in Los Angeles.
In the end, Leonard’s time with the Clippers will be remembered for his dramatic arrival, a parade of injuries, a lack of playoff success and a bizarre investigation. He missed the entire 2021-22 season with a torn ACL, played in 331 of a possible 554 regular-season games, won three playoff series and never appeared in a game beyond the second round. (The Clippers made the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history in 2021 after Leonard tore his ACL in the second round.)
Though Leonard is no longer with the team, the Clippers remain under investigation by the league for allegedly circumventing the salary cap by using a no-show endorsement deal with Aspiration, a now-bankrupt sustainability company, to funnel money to Leonard. Both Leonard and Dennis Robertson — Leonard’s uncle and advisor — have been interviewed as part of the league’s investigation.
The Leonard era in Los Angeles won’t be fully complete until the league closes its investigation, but the on-court aspect has now ended, so let’s take a look back at the seven-time All-Star’s time with the Clippers.
Kawhi Leonard trade grades: Clippers get ‘A+’ for franchise-altering pivot as Raptors take major risk
Sam Quinn
A foreboding late-night arrival
In the summer of 2019, immediately after he led the Raptors to the first title in franchise history, Leonard was able to make a real case as the best player in the world. At the time, he was the most sought-after free agent during a star-studded summer that also saw Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and Jimmy Butler change teams.
While Durant and Irving quickly agreed to deals with the Brooklyn Nets, and Butler went to the Miami Heat in a sign-and-trade deal a few days later, Leonard bided his time. The Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers both thought they had a real chance to sign Leonard, but he eventually settled on the Clippers — though not until after they had agreed to acquire Paul George in exchange for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks (four unprotected) and two first-round pick swaps.
Late on July 5, 2019, (or extremely early on July 6, depending on your location), the deal(s) were finally done. They came in conjunction just hours after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Ridgecrest, California. The most powerful earthquake to hit Southern California in nearly 20 years could be felt as far away as Las Vegas, where multiple NBA Summer League games were canceled.
“I’m just fired up to be here today. Pretty cool, pretty damn cool,” an emphatic Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said, before screaming into the microphone a few weeks later at Leonard and George’s introductory press conference. “… Being number two, being number four. We’re only here for one reason. We want to win it all.”
“We’ve got something special,” Leonard said. “We can make history here, and we’ve got the right team to do it.”
Injuries, injuries and more injuries
In his Clippers debut on Oct. 22, 2019, Leonard went off for 30 points, six rebounds and five assists in a win over LeBron James and the Lakers. Eight days later, he was absent for the team’s fifth game of the season, a loss to the Utah Jazz, due to load management for his left knee.
A week later, Leonard sat out again against the Milwaukee Bucks. Prior to that game, then-Clippers coach Doc Rivers said Leonard felt “great,” and there was no reason for long-term concern. The league later fined the Clippers $50,000 due to Rivers making comments that were “inconsistent” with Leonard’s health, but determined that Leonard did have a medical reason for sitting out of back-to-backs.
“Kawhi Leonard is not a healthy player under the league’s resting policy, and, as such, is listed as managing a knee injury in the LA Clippers injury report,” league spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement at the time. “The league office, in consultation with the NBA’s director of sports medicine, is comfortable with the team medical staff’s determination that Leonard is not sufficiently healthy to play in back-to-back games at this time.”
Leonard was not fully healthy when he arrived in Los Angeles, and he would rarely be over his seven years with the franchise.