Clippers GM Explains Plans For Team's Future

The future of the Los Angeles Clippers is up in the air. Before the trade deadline, it looked like they were moving in the right direction. After a terrible start to the season, they were finally catching their stride and making their way back up the Western Conference standings. Then, they traded away two of their top three players in James Harden and Ivica Zubac, which put the entire franchise’s future in question. 

While the Clippers seemed to be selling some of their veteran talent, one thing they decided not to do was trade Kawhi Leonard. 

Lawrence Frank, the Clippers' general manager, recently spoke about the Clippers’ plans with Leonard for the future. 

“We definitely see a scenario where he’s part of the group going forward. Look—Kawhi, when healthy, is arguably one of the top 5 players in this league. No one is playing better than him over this last 7-week stretch. Similar to what we did in other summers, we always get together with Kawhi and his representatives, and we lay out what the plan is. The number one priority for Kawhi is the same number one priority for the Clippers organization. We want to win a championship. How do we do it together? This is what it looks like. Yes, we’ve been very transparent with how we’ve treated 27-28 space. And that’s kinda what factored into the nature of James’ last contract and the mutual option. We also, because we prioritized it, it’s not just used in free agency. Darius is a great example of that… Would you rather have space, or would you rather have Darius? We rather have Darius. Same thing with Kawhi. We can continue and look forward to building with Kawhi while still acknowledging we’re going to need more. We’ll go through every step of what that looks like, whether it’s free agency, whether it’s a trade, whether it’s the draft… But Kawhi has been a great partner, and I anticipate him being a great partner moving forward.”

Frank didn’t fully commit to plans to extend Leonard. That’s probably smart. With Kawhi’s injury history and potential punishment for the Aspiration scandal looming over things, it is probably best to wait and see how the rest of the season plays out. If Leonard and Garland show some good chemistry, then maybe they will extend them both.