Last night, the Los Angeles Clippers were eliminated from the 2026 NBA Playoffs after falling to the Golden State Warriors in the Play-In Tournament. The result was undoubtedly disappointing, especially with how hard they worked to get themselves in postseason contention after a rough start. Nevertheless, they can now turn their attention to what’s arguably a more pressing and important matter.<\/p>\n
Currently under investigation by the NBA after allegations of salary cap circumvention, those in the know have flip-flopped on whether any of the parties involved in the Aspiration scandal<\/a> would face serious repercussions. The Clippers could be forced to forfeit draft picks. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer could face a suspension or hefty fine. Clippers star Kawhi Leonard<\/a> could have his contract voided. Or, it could be much ado about nothing.<\/p>\n For now, nobody is quite sure how the situation will play out. However, it’s clear that the franchise is heading into another offseason with nothing to show for the hype surrounding them. As a result, Leonard’s future with the team shouldn’t be secure in any way. That’s not to say that he’s to blame for their misfortunes. Even so, between his accusations, injuries and contract, it’s quite possible that they’ll be better off moving on from him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The two teams that have been linked to Leonard the most frequently in trade rumors are the Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers. Obviously, either scenario presents the California native and San Diego State alum with the option of remaining in his birth state. On top of that, both the Warriors and Lakers are going to enter the 2026-27 season as playoff contenders thanks to the status of Stephen Curry<\/a> and Luka Doncic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Due to their sibling rivalry, the Clippers would likely prefer to avoid trading Leonard to the Lakers in particular.\u00a0 However, if the ball winds up in Leonard’s court, he might not want to join either franchise. For those that don’t remember, the rumored reason<\/a> Leonard signed with the Clippers rather than the Lakers during his 2019 free agency was his desire to build a legacy without being in LeBron James<\/a>‘s shadow. To be clear, there are many that believe James has played his last season with the Lakers. Nevertheless, while neither Curry nor Doncic’s are quite as big as James, they can still eclipse Leonard.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There’s one more California-based NBA franchise that Leonard could join: the Sacramento Kings.<\/p>\n Though they were a playoff contender on paper, the Kings just wrapped up one of their most embarrassing seasons in franchise history. For a franchise that was once the unrivaled laughingstock of the NBA, that says a lot. Unfortunately, none of it is hyperbolic. At 22-60, they were tied with the Utah Jazz —a team actively trying to lose<\/a> –for the worst record in the West. This despite the fact they had at least two players bound for the Hall of Fame (DeMar DeRozan<\/a>, Russell Westbrook<\/a>) and two others with multiple All-Star selections (Domantas Sabonis<\/a>, Zach LaVine<\/a>).<\/p>\n Frankly, all they’ve done since ending a 16-year postseason drought in 2023 is move backwards. All the same, there’s enough star power to at least Leonard’s attention. Furthermore, though they’re seen as one of the league’s ne’er do well franchise, they genuinely want to be a good team. They’ve mismanaged their personnel and resources but at least it wasn’t for lack of trying. All of that being said, the Kings’ reputation isn’t much different from what the Clippers had been prior to the Lob City Era. For better and for worse, Leonard could look at leading Sacramento to a ring as a challenge that’s similar to his current situation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although Leonard decided not to re-sign with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, he still led them to their first NBA championship. As a result, he enjoys sort of a mythological status North of the Border. Keeping that in mind, a return to the Raptors is pretty feasible. Not only is he a player who’s proven he can help deliver a championship to the franchise, he fits a need.<\/p>\n Just consider, for years the Raptors have been open to trading RJ Barrett<\/a>. This isn’t because he’s played below expectations. In fact, he’s performed above them. However, after Toronto acquired Brandon Ingram<\/a> and moving him ahead of Barrett in the pecking order, his skill set became a dual-edged sword. On the positive side, he’s a volume scorer that can create for himself and others. Yet, because of his subpar 3-ball, he negatively impacts Toronto’s floor balance. At the other end, Barrett isn’t a true liability but he isn’t particularly adept at the point-of-attack either.<\/p>\n On paper, Leonard is almost the perfect player to swap Barrett for, his injury history the only real concern.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are several playoff contenders that would move into the plane of title-contenders with a Leonard trade.<\/p>\n Though already soaring, the Atlanta Hawks could reach a new altitude by using their trade pieces<\/a>, giving Jalen Johnson<\/a> an All-Star tag team partner. The Detroit Pistons have been racing through on-court adversity and Leonard could significantly reduce Cade Cunningham<\/a>‘s offensive burden. The Orlando Magic may be more consistent if they shuffle the deck, giving Paolo Banchero<\/a> a star to lean on.<\/p>\n Hunting a player of Leonard’s caliber could be enough to pacify Milwaukee Bucks trade candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>. With Damian Lillard<\/a> and Jrue Holiday<\/a> on the roster, the Portland Trail Blazers could push in their chips for a title run. Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle has done well with his new pack but they’re overreliant on Jaden McDaniels<\/a>‘s 3-ball. In Louisiana, Leonard would provide the New Orleans Pelicans with everything Zion Williamson<\/a> doesn’t give them.<\/p>\n Then there’s the Miami Heat, who simply need a fire lit under them. Right now, their primary trade target appears to be Antetokounmpo. However, in the event that one of his many other suitors<\/a> wins the sweepstakes, Leonard’s an intriguing pivot. His lack of durability is sure to irk Heat president Pat Riley on some level<\/a>. At the same time, even Antetokounmpo is having trouble staying on the court<\/a> these days.<\/p>\n \u00a9 Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last night, the Los Angeles Clippers were eliminated from the 2026 NBA Playoffs after falling to the Golden State Warriors in the Play-In Tournament. The result was undoubtedly disappointing, especially with how hard they worked to get themselves in postseason contention after a rough start. Nevertheless, they can now turn their attention to what’s arguably […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":189899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27,4,1608,9,25,26,16,15,21,62,33,3,17,23,29,14,4721],"tags":[168,4557,4774],"class_list":["post-189887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clippers","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-warriors","category-lakers","category-heat","category-bucks","category-timberwolves","category-nba","category-pelicans","category-news","category-magic","category-trailblazers","category-kings","category-raptors","category-trade-rumors","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-nba-offseason","tag-rumors"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189887"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189904,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189887\/revisions\/189904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers<\/h3>\n
Sacramento Kings<\/h3>\n
Toronto Raptors<\/h3>\n
One Piece Away?<\/h3>\n