The Clippers could go against the grain.
Kawhi Leonard just had one of those seasons where the talent was never the question for six months.
The Los Angeles Clippers forward averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists across 65 games while shooting 50.5 percent from the field, dragging the team from a miserable 6-21 start to a 42-40 finish.
When Leonard is healthy and dialed in, he is still that guy.
The problem has always been everything around that sentence.
The Quote
ESPN's Tim McMahon went on The Hoop Collective recently and said something worth paying attention to about where things stand heading into the summer.
"We'll see what happens with Aspiration," McMahon said. "Assuming they are allowed to attempt to negotiate an extension, I believe the intention is to try to negotiate an extension with Kawhi Leonard. But 'negotiate' is a key word there. It's not just like, 'Hey, can you take just a little slight haircut from maxes?' And so, depending on how that goes, there's a world where Kawhi could be on the block this summer, too. So, we shall see."
That is not exactly a ringing endorsement.
McMahon is leaving the door wide open for a trade if the money does not work out, and it shifts the whole tone of this offseason.
Why the Clippers Would Extend Him
Leonard can still play at a level most guys in the league cannot touch.
His 27.9 points per game were a career high, and 50.5 percent shooting from the field at his position is hard to find anywhere.
The Clippers also landed the fifth overall pick in the 2026 draft and already brought in Darius Garland from Cleveland at the deadline, so there are young pieces around him now.
Leonard paired with Garland and a lottery rookie gives the front office a real group to work with.
Why Waiting Might Be Smarter
Here is the other side of it.
Leonard turns 35 in late June and is heading into the last year of a deal worth just over $50 million.
A two-year max extension would run roughly $126 million, which is a lot to commit to a player whose body has been unreliable for most of his time in Los Angeles.
The Aspiration investigation is still out there too, and the league has not said what penalties could follow.
The Clippers moved James Harden and Ivica Zubac at the deadline to get younger and load up on picks.
Tying the franchise back into a massive Leonard deal runs counter to all of that, especially if the front office actually wants to commit to a longer reset.
Letting the deal expire gives them another season to see how things shake out.
If Leonard is healthy and the roster works, the conversation is still there.
If not, they walk into 2027 with flexibility they would not have otherwise.
Nobody is going to get this one wrong by thinking about it a little longer.