ESPN's Tim MacMahon says the Clippers will demand a pay cut from Kawhi Leonard in any extension talks this summer.
Kawhi Leonard just turned in one of the best seasons of his career, and it still might not be enough to get him a new deal with the Los Angeles Clippers on his terms.
The two-time Finals MVP is entering the final year of the three-year, $149.5 million extension he signed in January 2024, and his future with the franchise is anything but certain as a big offseason gets underway.
What Tim MacMahon Is Hearing
On the latest episode of The Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN's Tim MacMahon made it clear that extension talks between Leonard and the Clippers won't be a simple handshake deal.
"My understanding is if there's going to be an extension, there's going to be some legitimate negotiations," MacMahon said. "This isn't just, 'can you take a little haircut?'"
MacMahon then went a step further.
"He's going to have to take a pay cut, I believe, to end up extending with the Clippers."
That's a big ask for a player coming off a season where he averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists on 50.5 percent shooting across 65 games and finished seventh in MVP voting.
Leonard is set to make $50.3 million in 2026-27, and any extension would need to come in well below that number for the Clippers to feel comfortable moving forward.
What a Realistic Extension Would Look Like
Leonard turns 35 on June 29, and that is a big factor in all of this.
The Clippers are not going to offer anything close to his current salary for a player his age because the injury risk is too real.
A realistic extension would probably land somewhere in the two-to-three year range at around $30-35 million per season, which would be a meaningful drop from the $50 million he is making now.
For a guy who has made over $530 million in career earnings, accepting that kind of reduction will not be easy, even if the basketball side of things still makes sense.
Why the Clippers Are Smart to Demand a Pay Cut
The Los Angeles Clippers finished 42-40 this season and lost to the Golden State Warriors in the play-in tournament, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
They have not won a playoff series since reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2021, and it is hard to argue that building around a soon-to-be 35-year-old at $50 million a year is the right move.
The front office already started shifting toward youth at the trade deadline when they sent James Harden to Cleveland for Darius Garland and flipped Ivica Zubac to Indiana for Bennedict Mathurin and a package of picks that included what became the No. 5 selection in the 2026 draft.
That rebuild is already in motion, and committing top dollar to Leonard would go against everything they have been building toward.
If Leonard wants to stay, the money has to make sense for both sides.
If it does not, MacMahon made the other option pretty clear, and the Clippers will explore the trade market instead.
This is the offseason that will define where the franchise goes from here.
