No. 4 threat that could sign Kawhi Leonard away from the LA Clippers this offseason: The Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors should be in the running to steal Kawhi Leonard away from the LA Clippers this offseason.
Like the situation with the Mavericks, though, they’ll have some work to do before making the offer.
Andrew Wiggins is due $30 million for next season. They’ll first have to find away to trade him and get off of that contract.
Next, they’d have to free up more cap room by trading one of their big three. There’s no shot they’re going to trade Steph Curry, so it would have to be either Klay Thompson or Draymond Green.
Leonard is easily better than both those guys, but the Warriors may want to try to keep their core together as much as possible as Klay gets back and healthy next year.
Their other shot in the dark trade option would be James Wiseman. Obviously trading him to free up space for Leonard would mean that they are getting a much better player coming in, but again, the Warriors may just want to sit on Wiseman. They just drafted him with the number two overall pick.
If they can work this situation out, and land Kawhi Leonard for just the departure of Wiseman, Thompson, or Green, they will most likely be immediate championship favorites.
So they have a lot to draw interest from Leonard, but freeing up the opportunity to acquire him would be incredibly complicated.
It won’t be easy for any team to be able to sway Kawhi to come over to their side. That being said, there will be competition for the Clippers, and it won’t be easy for them either.