[ESPN] An East executive believes that teams should value Kawhi Leonard over Giannis Antetokounmpo on the trade market because Leonard has been “better and healthier over the last two seasons.” A West GM believes Leonard’s contract is unlikely to be voided if the Clippers are found guilty.
There are three basic options: extend, hold or trade. Leonard has one season at $50 million remaining on his contract and is coming off a likely All-NBA-worthy season. In a vacuum, a team would be looking to extend a player who averaged 28 points on 51% shooting and played in 65 games. If it didn’t feel good about extending that player – with Leonard’s lengthy injury history, that would be understandable – it would definitely look to trade him for maximum value.
“Every day you hear about what’s going to happen with Giannis [Antetokounmpo], but everyone ignores that Kawhi has been better and healthier over the last two seasons,” an East executive said. “If you had a chance to acquire one or the other, I might go Kawhi.”
But, of course, you can’t ignore Leonard and the LA Clippers being under investigation for possible salary cap circumvention. That leaves his short-term future somewhat up in the air.
“There’s no way they’re voiding his contract even if the league finds him guilty,” a West GM said. “That would be a reward, clearing the Clippers’ books for them.”
The way Leonard is playing, the Clippers might *want*him on their books.
“Them getting the No. 5 pick in the draft [via trade with the Indiana Pacers and some lottery fortune] is the piece of information they’ve been waiting for,” a West executive said. “At the very least, you’d expect them to have some fresh conversations to assess his [trade] value.”
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Both of them are correct.