When Nico Harrison dumped Luka Dončić to the Lakers for not much more than the cup of coffee he presumably also bought for Rob Pelinka in February of 2025, it was considered by most to be the worst trade in NBA history. The only reason that might still be true is the Clippers didn't trade for Kawhi Leonard in the summer of 2019. But if we're talking straight transactions, with the benefit of hindsight, the Leonard acquisition may have just jumped the Dončić debacle in staking its claim among, and perhaps atop, the all-time disasters.
The Leonard era in L.A. is, presumably, ending any minute now, with the star player getting shipped to Toronto in a trade that was put on hold for two months. But, for now, let's look back at the failed seven-season run. We can start start with the fact that the Clippers paid Leonard nearly $350 million over the last seven years.
During that span, the Clippers won a total of three playoff series, and Leonard didn't play in a single postseason game past the second round. He missed the 2021-22 season entirely after tearing his ACL. He played in a whopping 37 games in the 2024-2025 season.
In his first postseason back after the ACL tear, he lasted all of two games before tearing his meniscus in 2023 in the first of three straight first-round eliminations. On those facts alone, the Leonard signing was a complete bust for the Clippers. But that's only the start of the accounting.
There's also the extreme and well-chronicled cost of Paul George, who came as a package deal at the presumed behest of Leonard and thus has to be viewed as a function of Leonard's cost. That George trade was supposed to result in a championship, and it did. Only not for the Clippers, who sent five first-round picks (one of which became All-NBA player Jalen Williams), two swaps, and future back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the 2025 champion Oklahoma City Thunder for the opportunity to pair Leonard and George.
Being that any honest accounting, as far as such a thing exists with the Clippers these days, of these deals has to look at Leonard and George as a largely single transaction, we're going to throw the almost $200 million the Clippers paid George through 2025 onto Leonard's $375 million basketball (important distinction) tab. Which brings us to Wednesday, when the NBA, after a nearly year-long investigation, brought the hammer down on the Clippers for their Kawhi salary-cap circumvention shenanigans. In a press release, the NBA summarized the Clippers' infractions as follows: That's a lot of lawyer speak for the Clippers hooking Leonard up with a bunch of no-show side deals as a means of funneling him more money than they were legally allowed to pay him under the league's collective bargaining agreement, and suffice it to say, the penalties are harsh.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
