In the second year of the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George era Clippers, they once again fell short, not making it to the NBA Finals. This is primarily due to the fact that Leonard missed significant time with a knee injury.
As first reported by The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor, the Mavericks, and Heat plan to hard push to acquire Leonard this summer with his potential impending free agency looming.
O’Connor also reported that Dallas is considered by some executives to be the most serious threat to land Kawhi because of Luka Doncic’s presence and the front office’s ability to create maximum cap space or work out a sign-and-trade.
Leonard tried to recruit Jimmy Butler to the Clippers before George was acquired in 2019, so Miami could be an attractive destination for him if he desired a pairing with Butler still.
As with nearly every superstar, the Knicks are also expected to have interest in Leonard if he does become available. The list of teams who would take a shot at Leonard should be extremely long, but for now the Mavericks and Heat seem to make sense early on.
