LA Clippers: 1 reason Kawhi Leonard shouldn’t go to the New York Knicks
By Evan Desai
If the LA Clippers drop this series vs. the Utah Jazz, basketball minds all over this basketball media landscape will undoubtedly drive a narrative that the Knicks will be players in the Kawhi Leonard sweepstakes.
That would be correct, as they will have more money than any other team in the NBA (and it won’t be close by the way), and everybody loves to play in Madison Square Garden.
Playing in New York has its benefits. It’s an even bigger market than LA, securing the spotlight, especially when you’re playing for the more popular franchise of New York in the Knicks. He’d be the best player on the New York Knicks, which would have the potential to make him the most popular player in the NBA.
The issue is, the rest of their roster likely won’t be attractive enough to get Kawhi to make the move.
Kawhi’s making about $34.4 million annually with his current contract. He’ll likely want to up that this summer if he leaves, so let’s say he stretches it to $40 million.
The Knicks might want to do that and there are valid arguments for them to wanting to do that. He’s a top 5 player in this league and would most likely want and deserve that if he switches teams. The Knicks have $72.8 million to spend this offseason.
They’ll pick up Julius Randle’s option for $20 million. Okay, so $20 million plus $40 million would leave them with $12.8 million more to spend.
What if they want to re-sign Derrick Rose? He could end up costing a lot due to him being one of the better free agents available this offseason. Remember, this free agency class isn’t as great as it was expected to be due to many players signing extensions during the season.
If they re-sign Derrick Rose, bring back Julius Randle, and sign Kawhi, how much money will they have left? Probably not very much, and that supporting cast won’t be as good as what the Clippers’ supporting cast will be.
They already extended Paul George, and the hope is that they can bring back the rest of their impact free agents for manageable deals.
The Clippers have one of the best rosters in the league, and while the Knicks are a good team, their roster simply doesn’t compete with what the Clippers’ supporting cast has to offer.
The Knicks are absolutely in the discussion for Kawhi, should he be interested in leaving. I don’t think the grass would necessarily be greener over there, and I certainly don’t if the Clippers can win this series.
Next. Making sense of regular season matchups vs. Jazz. dark
I think Kawhi will realize that, and will stay here if his options are with us or New York.