The Los Angeles Clippers may have a new suitor for their star.
Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard just finished one of the best individual seasons of his career, averaging 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists across 65 games while shooting 50.5 percent from the field.
The two-time Finals MVP carried the Clippers to a 42-40 record after a brutal 6-21 start to the year, but a play-in loss to the Golden State Warriors ended the season and now the franchise has some serious thinking to do this summer.
Then on Monday, the Dallas Mavericks made the Clippers' offseason even more complicated.
Dallas hired former Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri as team president and alternate governor, and anyone who follows the NBA knows what Ujiri and Leonard did together.
Ujiri is the one who pulled the trigger on trading for Kawhi Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs back in 2018, and the two of them rode that gamble all the way to a championship with the Raptors in 2019.
Leonard left for the Clippers in free agency that summer, but the relationship between them never went away.
What Dallas Could Even Offer
ClutchPoints NBA reporter Brett Siegel was quick to point out that Ujiri has strong relationships with players around the league, including Leonard.
That matters because the Clippers have already been fielding trade interest in their star forward, who enters 2026-27 on an expiring $50.3 million contract.
If the two sides cannot agree on an extension this summer, moving Leonard while teams are still willing to pay a premium for him becomes a real option.
The 26-56 Mavericks have enough to put together a competitive offer too.
Dallas holds a lottery pick in the loaded 2026 draft along with a $20.8 million trade exception from the Anthony Davis deal, and the roster is full of tradable contracts in the $8 to $20 million range.
Veterans like P.J. Washington, Klay Thompson and Daniel Gafford could all be moved in the right package, and pairing Leonard with Rookie of the Year Cooper Flagg and a returning Kyrie Irving would give Dallas a legitimate Big Three almost overnight.
The Clippers' Perspective
For the Clippers, the question is whether they want to run it back or start collecting picks and young players for a longer rebuild.
Reports from Siegel suggest Leonard has not expressed any desire to leave, and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank has publicly said the plan is to win with Kawhi.
But the franchise already shipped James Harden and Ivica Zubac at the deadline, and the looming Aspiration investigation hanging over the organization makes the path forward even harder to read.
Leonard played the most games he has since 2017, and giving up a 34-year-old who just put up nearly 28 points a night on 50 percent shooting is not something any front office does lightly.
But if the Mavericks come calling with draft picks and young talent, and Ujiri is working the phone with a relationship that already won a ring once before, the Clippers would have to at least pick up.