Proposed Warriors Trade Lands Kawhi Leonard
The Warriors went aggressively star-hunting in the 2024 offseason, pursuing trades for Paul George and Lauri Markkanen.
According to several insiders, Golden State doesn’t plan to stop looking for star power to help aging franchise cornerstone Stephen Curry pursue his fifth NBA championship.
With that backdrop, the Warriors could again explore trades for other superstars ahead of the February 6, 2025 NBA trade deadline.
One of the names the Warriors could pursue is Clippers superstar forward Kawhi Leonard, who enters the 2024-25 season on a team with little to no expectations to compete for a championship.
Fran Leiva of Fadeaway World has proposed a trade that would send Leonard to Golden State in exchange for a large haul of players and picks.
Warriors would get: Leonard
Clippers would get: Andrew Wiggins, Gary Payton II, Kevon Looney, Moses Moody, and a collection of future first-round picks.
“For Golden State, Leonard would offer a huge defensive and offensive boost, and they could afford to take the risk, hoping that Leonard would stay healthy enough to make a deep playoff run,” Leiva wrote on September 23. “With Curry’s championship window closing, adding a two-time Finals MVP like Leonard would have been a game-changer.”
Will the Clippers Blow It Up?
Following the departure of Paul George as a free agent, the Clippers are projected to win just 41.5 games in the 2024-25 season, a year after finishing the fourth seed with 51 wins.
If the Clippers don’t resemble a title contender by the trade deadline, they could potentially blow up the roster assembled in 2019 with headliners Leonard and George.
Kendrick Perkins believes the Clippers would be better off trading Leonard rather than enduring a period of irrelevancy in the loaded Western Conference.