Why It Makes Sense for Kawhi Leonard to Sign With the LA Clippers?

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(Photo: USA Today)

Even if you are not a Raptors or NBA Fans, you will have heard by now that former Raptors (still trying to get used to this), Kwahi Leonard has decided to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers for a 4-year, $142M max deal.

It was rumoured to be a 3-horse race between the Toronto, Raptors, LA Lakers & LA Clippers. With the most quiet of the 3-teams, the Clippers making the BIGGEST splash by signing Kwahi Leonard. How did the Clippers able to seal the deal? By giving up 2 active NBA players plus sending 5 first round draft picks to the OKC Thunder to trade for another all-star Paul George.

Apparently, based on multiple news sources, Kawhi Leonard wanted to pair with Paul George. He said to the Clippers brass that if they can trade for Paul George, Kawhi will sign with the Clippers. And now it’s a done deal.

Now, if Paul George wasn’t traded to the Clippers and only Kawhi signs with the Clippers, then this signing wouldn’t make any sense. But with the Paul George trade materializes and confirmed, then Kawhi signing with the Clippers now make total sense.

And here is my breakdown on why it makes sense for Kawhi to signs with the Clippers:

  1. Paul George Trade
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    The Paul George trade is a HUGE deal coz Kawhi knows he needs to pair up with another super star in order to stand a chance to win another NBA Championship title. With so many superstars already signed during the 1st day of NBA free agency, there aren’t many superstar free agents out in the open. But people forgot about Paul George, another player who grows up from Los Angeles is available for a trade. Paul George willingness to be traded to the Clippers seal the deal for the signing of Kawhi.
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  2. Coming Home (Family) – Los Angeles
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    Before Kawhi got traded to the Toronto Raptors, it was widely publicized that Kawhi wants to return home to the Los Angeles, either to the Lakers or the Clippers. He wants to return home and be closer with his family. This signing grants Kawhi his wish of playing at home.
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  3. Nice weather
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    With the nice hot weather in Los Angeles, Kawhi got to enjoy the nice hot weather during the NBA regular season as well as his off time in the summer.
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  4. Long-Term Deal over Short-Term Deal
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    Although the Raptors did a great job in inventing now the “Load Management” to keep Kawhi healthy throughout the regular season and the playoffs, Kawhi also knows that he may be injury prone. Taking the logical max deal with the Toronto Raptors at 1+1 or 2 years deal maybe too risky for him to sign. What if he is injury prone in year 1 or year 2 of the short-term contract? He has seen the NBA market went dry when guys like DeMarcus Cousins experienced a major injury. Kawhi wants the peace of mind of signing a long-term deal to grab as much money now than settling for a short-term deal.
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  5. Excellent Clippers Executives and Ownership
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    The LA Clippers have an excellent level of executives and ownership to run its team. From top to bottom, it’s a prestige groups of high quality executives who can build a solid team culture and strategy to help Kawhi and his team win its 1st championship for the Clippers.Billionaire Steve Ballmer, the owner of the Clippers is a passionate owner who isn’t afraid to invest and spend over the luxury tax to win its 1st championship. He will do whatever it takes to win! That is KEY when you know the owner will spend and backs the team up to acquire true talent to win games.President of Operations, Lawrence Frank and General Manager Michael Winger will do whatever it takes to build a winning team to support Kawhi.Hall of Famer Coach, Doc Rivers is a great coach in knowing how to handle super stars and earn respect from them to make things work on the team. Doc has the experience to run plays and utilize the roster.
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  6. Kawhi Wants to Win the 1st Championship to the Clippers Organization
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    Clippers has always been a laughing stock organization for most of its existence, not until when they drafted Blake Griffin and signed Chris Paul that they began to win games and earn respect from the NBA league. However, Clippers has always been playing a second fiddle under the Lakers’ shadow. Despite playing under the same venue space, Lakers dynasty is always the superior out of the two teams.Knowing Kawhi’s personality, he doesn’t want to play under LeBron’s shadow and Kawhi doesn’t need to do that either. He single handedly won the Championship with his supporting cast with the Toronto Raptors and he didn’t even have to pair with any big 3 to do so.

Perhaps Kawhi wants to win the 1st championship for the Clippers organization.

Imagine if Kawhi wins one with the San Antonion Spurs; one with the Toronto Raptors and win one with the LA Clippers? That would be such an amazing legacy for Kawhi.

Anyhow, here are the reasons that I can think of that makes sense for Kawhi to sign with the LA Clippers. It will be a very interesting NBA season coming in 2020 when there are so many movements and changes among so many NBA teams during this free agency season.

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