“Warriors may pursue Kawhi Leonard in free agency”: Clippers star could team up with Steph Curry and Draymond Green in 2022

Reports claim that the Golden State Warriors will likely pursue Kawhi Leonard during the 2022 free agency as he could be a UFA. 

The Golden State Warriors have been a mess as of late. With aspirations of being title contenders following Kevin Durant’s departure to Brooklyn were crushed after two devastating, season-ending injuries to Klay Thompson.

The Dubs are now middling and slowly delving into lottery pick territory. Steph Curry and the Warriors are clinging onto the final play-in spot out West, with New Orleans hot on their tail.

Even if Golden State were to make it into the play-in, the probability of them making any noise in the tournament is very low. The roster constructed around Steph Curry is simply not good enough. 

A stat released by BBall Index says that the Warriors guard has a mere 3% lineup spacing percentage, giving him little to no room to operate in. 

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Ironically, the man at the top of this list, is Kawhi Leonard, who has a lineup spacing percentage of 99%. This means Kawhi has been given an ample amount of space in the half-court to work in, while Curry has been smothered by defenses, as he is not surrounded by potent offensive threats. 

The Golden State Warriors will try to sign Kawhi Leonard in the 2022 offseason 

Kawhi Leonard’s future with the Los Angeles Clippers hinges on how deep of a Playoff run the Clips venture into this postseason. With the way Steve Balmer has forsaken the Clippers’ future by giving away all of their picks to acquire Paul Goerge and Rajon Rondo, it seems as though they are in ‘championship or bust’ mode. 

According to Evan Massey of ESPN and Yahoo, the Golden State Warriors will look into signing the 2x Finals MVP if he were to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of ‘22. 

The Golden State Warriors are expected to pursue Kawhi Leonard in free agency, per @massey_evan pic.twitter.com/9NCoE27kZH

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) April 12, 2021

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Kawhi Leonard signed a 3 year/$103 million deal with the Clippers, with the last year being a player option. The Clips will undoubtedly offer him a supermax contract extension during the 2021 offseason.

Reports surged about 4 days ago that Leonard is likely extend with LA, barring any dramatic events taking place. It is up to fans to sniff out what is meant by ‘dramatic turn of events’ but it most probably alludes to an early Playoff exit.  

The Golden State Warriors already have a lot of cap space dedicated to Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Andre Wiggins, along with Draymond Green taking up a chunk of the cap space as well.

With Steph still in his prime, the Dubs will look to optimize the 2-3 year window they have by dipping into the luxury, if it means they can sign Leonard and get back into title contention.