Kawhi Leonard Signs Extension…What Does It Mean?

Kawhi Leonard Signs Extension…What Does It Mean?

The LA Clippers have officially signed Kawai Leonard to an extension for three years $152 million this comes before the end of the season Midway through the season seemed like we all thought it was going to be after the season to see if they could stay healthy for the playoffs in this

Episode I’m going to be breaking down all the terms of the extension it’s pros and cons and looking ahead to the game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday on today’s lockdown Clippers you are locked on Clippers your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day yeah sir you are locking in with the clips thank you for making locked on Clippers the first listen of your day your team every day I’m your host Daran vizeri born and raised in LA and in my 19th season as a Clipper fan you can also

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram at di dropper pod And subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper and LA Sports content and locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube where I want you to

Let me know how you feel about the extension news to kawhai Leonard it is big news I’m not going to lie it really shocked me when it came out on Wednesday and I will explain why and we’re going to be getting into every single thing about the extension how I felt about it

How you can feel about about it I know there’s going to be fans feeling different sorts of ways the pros and cons we’ll get into all of it and then we’re going to end with talking a little bit about the game on Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies and this episode is

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Any situation all right so the Clippers have officially signed Kawai Leonard to a three-year 152.4 million contract extension which will keep him under contract through the 2026 27 season so yes this means kawh Leonard is officially opting out or there’s no you he’s not opting into that

Last year of his deal that first year of the in Dome next year he is instead signing a new deal for three years that will begin next season so 20 24 25 2526 and 2627 my first thought was was we signed we resigned kawh Leonard

And we haven’t even had a full a fully healthy playoff run that was my first thought when I woke up and saw that news I was like oh my God I can’t believe we did this I can’t believe we did this I obviously think Kawai is the key to our

Championship hopes he is one of the best players in the league he is the best player the Clippers have ever had in terms of how good of a basketball player he is I still believe he’s not the greatest Clipper of all time yet till he accomplishes more as a Clipper and with

This extension hopefully he will do so but I’m not going to lie y’all I don’t mean to sound like a Negative Nancy I I will get into more depth about the terms of it because I didn’t hear all the terms of it when I first saw that news

So my initial reaction was three years okay it’s not too crazy that’s not a max deal so that is not a Max contract you can get up to $60 million these days so it’s not a Max right so he took a little bit less and I’m going to get into why

And and the exact you know you know numeric stuff with that but I was nervous I thought we were going to wait to resign Paul George and Kawai after they proved that they could stay healthy for a playoff run not just 39 games into the season or 38 games

Into the season when this was announced it makes me a little nervous because what if the injury bug does hit and I’m not trying to speak that into existence obviously and you know the whole jinxing thing can’t be used on me this year because I’ve been mentioning the injury stuff every episode knocking

On wood and for whatever reason it’s working better than ever so you know it’s not off limits for me to mention this that concerns me now I’m hoping and I’m praying that after a torn ACL in a torn meniscus we won’t get any serious injuries again for kawh Leonard as a

Clipper but if there is you’re just we’ve already given kawh Leonard a lot of money since he’s been a Clipper we’ve extended him once in 20 in the summer of 2021 after he had torn his ACL which was a big sign of faith in the organization

Obviously what else are we going to do right we’re not going to just let him walk but we extended him even on a torn ACL and now we’ve extended him even though he hasn’t really shown that he can stay healthy for a full playoff run and throughout a full season for us so

At the end of the day it’s a big trust in the Clipper organization a big level of trust shown by the Clippers org ization in kawhai Leonard saying we believe in your health and we believe that all it’s going to take is a healthy playoff Runner two we will get to the

Promised land because he’s still playing at such an exceptionally high level and I think seeing the way he’s playing this year and saying that he’s been healthy has made them say okay we feel comfortable doing this we feel comfortable that kawhai Leonard is going to be healthy and we want to keep the

Best player we’ve ever had in this organization ation and have him through the in Dome opening and that was the whole thing right what was the alternative of course we could have just entered the offseason with let’s see what’s going to happen with Kawai is he going to get a new

Contract is he going to opt in is he going to opt out all this different stuff that stuff could have been discussed in the summer but in by doing this you remove all those conversations at the end of the year that could be more stressful depending on how the

Season goes now you have a commitment from him you have a mutual understanding between the organization and him so now you don’t have that kind of drama and it sets the stage for running it back now running it back that really your feelings on that may differ I know

There’s people that are like we got to prove something or else maybe we should go a different direction there’s also people that think we have to keep going with this what other choice do we have we don’t have pcks we’re moving into a new Arena we can’t rebuild going into a

New Arena and I’ve told you guys several times Steve Balmer said to the fans we are not going to rebuild when he is the owner we could retool but we’re not going to rebuild anything involving kawhai Leonard’s removal from this team is a rebuild that is not a retool you

Retool around a Kawai around a Paul George you can maybe say getting James Harden was a retool I don’t really think so but rebuilding would mean getting r of this 213 era and ending it and that’s not going to happen going into a new Arena and the sad part is no matter and

I I don’t know if the sad part in my opinion is even if this season is a disaster in the end not looking like it’s going to be right now but even if it is the Clippers are still committed to running this back the 213 era going

Into the into a dome you know if you recall I said before this season I think the Clippers should blow it up and go a different direction because I don’t trust the health of of kawaiian Paul and I could be extremely and happily wrong on that as I’ve said what it seems like

With the Clippers whatever I say the opposite happens like in 2020 I said we’re going to win the championship and we got embarrassed 31 lead to Denver 2021 I don’t think we’re going to make the Conference Finals we break the curse 2023 I said on this podcast when I

Started becoming a host we’re winning 60 games we’re winning the championship not even close this season had no faith at all Westbrook and Harden I was not happy to signing get or getting either of them and they’ve both been fantastic so it turns out that I am the Charles Barkley

Of clipper predictions so the kawhai Leonard man the man the kawhai Mr lennet has officially resigned with the clippers for three years $152 million they have done it now before the season so my takeaway is wow I can’t believe we signed him before the playoffs I can’t believe we did this in

The middle of the Season let me know how you think about what you think about that but coming up going to be getting into the actual meet and potatoes about this contract the pros the cons what I realized after hearing all the details you won’t want to miss it going to be

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So the Clippers have officially resigned kawhai Leonard to a three-year $1 152.4 million contract extension now here are the pros and and cons to this deal the cons I mean there’s really not that many cons except for we resigned Kawai who’s an injury risk and hasn’t

Proven he can stay healthy for a full playoff run since the bubble before it before he’s proven it so that’s the con like that that we’ve taken a risk if he gets hurt we could be stuck with this we could be stuck with this for a couple of

Years and that contract becomes hard to move because teams are scared of his health now here are the pros and there are a lot of them actually first off Kawai Leonard took an $8.5 million discount to resign with the Clippers 8 and5 million why is that because under the new

CBA it is harder to keep a team together with multiple stars and have a good Supporting Cast it’s just hard financially to do this now that was the whole point of the new CBA Adam Sila the league they’re trying to prevent dynasties they want parody they want you

Know as you saw with the Denver Nuggets right they lost Bruce Brown they couldn’t really keep their whole team together because the Indiana Pacers paid him over $20 million a year now for Kawai he’s clearly doing this because he wants his boys Paul George and James Harden who’s an unrestricted free agent

After this season to resign so him taking a pay cut is to keep the team together he wants to run this back now your opinion of the 213 era that will dictate whether or not you think this is good or bad but the way the team is looking right now it seems like

Everybody was happy about it at least on Twitter I know Twitter is not the real world I know the comment section for locked on is not the real world and I know that people in my locked on comment section were more ready to blow this up in the offseason than people on Twitter

People on Twitter are very committed to the 213 era I just want what I think is best for the team and I know that kawhai Leonard is the best chance the Clippers have of winning a championship but when he’s injured it feels like the Clippers

Are so far and Far Away now right now he is not injured he is playing at a high level he is doing what I did not think he could do and play I me I remember on this show I said call me when Kawhi Leonard plays 10 straight games well he

Has destroyed that it’s almost like he’s been listening so that’s amazing I just can’t believe the night and day difference from last season that we couldn’t really get kawhai to play 10 straight games and now he’s played 35 out of 39 it’s it’s really just incredible I’m sorry 33 out of 37 it’s

Really just incredible but Clippers are 24 and 13 right now they’re feeling really good about the team so they’re saying you know what let’s bring it back and as I said going into the new stadium Steve balber wants to wants to headline this arena with stars the alternatives are this

Right if you want to the alternatives are you don’t resign him and kawhai Ops of the contract next year with George and they do one more year at the end to it dome right the other alternative is they opt out and they start exploring the free agency market but here’s the

Thing I only believe that that would have been happening if the Clippers didn’t want them back they want to be here they chose to be here they’ve already extended their contracts here they are in their home Community you know they’re both in Southern California which they want to be so and the

Clippers have given them everything you know from the second before kawh Leonard even put the Jersey on trading our whole future to get his boy and Paul George to get him that second star and then every single point guard that we’ve tried that because theyve wanted a point guard

Lawrence Frank clearly was of the belief that we can just go with wings and have that Wing Stop sort of thing but they wanted a point guard we tried John Wall we tried Rajan Rondo we even brought in Eric bledo who wasn’t really for that purpose we we that was just a Patrick

Beverly replacement that we wanted to be more available then we brought in John Wall then we brought in Westbrook now finally James Harden so we’ve given Paul George and kawii Leonard everything we gave Paul George a contract extension after he choked in the bubble we gave Kawhi Leonard a contract extension after

He tore his ACL we gave Kawhi Leonard a contract extension after he hasn’t really been able to put it together in the playoffs healthy for us and we gave it to him in the middle of the season so we are showing a lot of faith in these

Guys we are committed to these guys Lawrence Frank Steve balber they have done their best to make them feel comfortable here and kawh Leonard you know for a guy that left San Antonio and left Toronto after one year I think it says a lot that he wants to stay here

And I also think it says a lot about the Clippers that we’ve come so far that a player of Kawhi Leonard’s stature despite what you want to say about his Clipper tenure and whether you think he’s accomplished enough yet or not the fact that the Clippers are reigning

Twice a player of kawhai Leonard’s caliber a top 75 player future Hall of Famer Finals MVP best PR of championship team two-time Finals MVP and a best PR of championship team in 2019 to multiple extensions that just shows how far the Clippers have come as as an organization

Because I remember the days where guys like Steve Blake Steve Blake were like I don’t know if I’m coming back on to this team where it was an embarrassment to continue to play for this team Steve balber has single-handedly changed that oh I don’t want to say single-handedly

Because Blake Griffin and Chris Paul they really changed things they changed what the Clippers could look like they they showed that they can be a consistent 50 plus win winning 50 plus win team year in year out even with Donald Sterling as owner and they continued in the early balber uh years

So it just shows that the Clippers have come a long way as an organization they’re not your daddy’s Clippers and if this contract if kawhai plays this contract out he will be a Clipper for eight years which is crazy to think about eight years that would be his

Longest tenure with any franchise which would be amazing I would love to say that we had KA for the most time but I also want to be one of the franchises that wins with Kawhi Leonard wins it all like San Antonio in Toronto but what

Else on this deal right so with the $8.5 million discount as I mentioned this lets Paul George and James Harden have a chance to resign also and the Clippers stay under the second tax apron also Kawai will will be making less than Carl Anthony towns and Bradley Beal with this contract kawh

Leonard will that’s huge because in today’s market these contracts are crazy kawh Leonard is a player that can get the max and he purposely didn’t to try to keep the big three together that’s big- time commitment from your star player and after the game Paul George

Said that you know you love to I don’t have his exact words but basically you love to see it and we’re hoping we can get something done on my end soon and kawh Leonard said I think now that I’m you know that I signed that I think it’s

Going to keep our team together I think the other guys are going to want to stay as well so clearly the goal is to keep them together going into the into it dome and have kawhai James Harden and Paul George open up that new Arena so

You’ll know there’s not not going to be any problem with attendance or anything like that but yeah Kawai was eligible for an extension up to four years $220 million which is basically in the ballpark of 80 million a year 80 160 actually no that my math is off

There that would be 310 but basically $60 million per year something like that 55 to $60 million per year you could have gotten so I am very satisfied with the contract in terms of the money and here’s the thing right it’s not actually a crazy contract it’s a three-year

Contract it’s not a Max it’s not a OnePlus One one so worse comes to worse if the Clippers do want to go a different direction and they say you know what this 213 era is not working out I actually think this contract is more tradable than any other situation

They had so actually it is good to have him down for long-term money and then you avoid the drama at the end of the season with these kind of discussions so that’s the pro I’ve already mentioned the cons it’s the injury stuff clearly but kawh Leonard is officially back and

Let me tell you something if he continues to play at this level this is going to look like a foolish discussion that it’s even being debated whether or not it was a good extension he is one of the best players in the league and Lawrence Frank said it best and he

Dropped a bar on this one he said a lot of people can get injured not a lot of guys can be a top five player and that’s true that’s true the thing is we’re just holding on and you got to give the Clippers organization credit they’re keeping the maximum amount of faith in

Kawhai to be healthy for one playoff run because if he is we might get what we’ve always wanted we might get the vision that I envisioned this second week got kawhai on July 5th 2019 that he is going to take over playoff games in front of a

Clipper crowd and it’s going to be absolutely magical Adrien wowski reports that the deal includes $52 million in kawai’s first year and approximately 50 million a season over the next two years and here’s another key there’s no player option none so there’s no he has to opt

In op out he the Clippers and Kawai have committed to each other for these next three years so none of that stuff about opting in or opting out like what would have happened at the end of this season and yeah that is a serious step towards keeping James Harden Paul George and

Himself together and all under the second tax aprint and in addition the Clippers still have salary enough that they can put some guys together like PJ Tucker and maybe like bones or Mason or air maybe not air cuz he’s in the rotation right now and get a $20 million

Player without moving a rotation player and they also have one more first round pick to explore to trade if they want to at the deadline so Clippers have some some kind of options you know uh at this trade deadline lorren Frank this is a direct quote he said we wanted kawhai to

Be a Clipper for a very long time and Kawai wants to be a Clipper for a very long time so gone are the days where players and stars don’t want to be Clippers I will say my only reservation is this cool but I don’t get why everyone’s

Going so nuts to me it’s like okay this is cool it’s not too good not too bad I want to see results I want to see results in the postseason just committing money to a guy that hasn’t shown that he can fully stay healthy for our team it’s not his fault obviously

But it matters it it is some reason for concern no matter how great he is as I’ve said many times and I’m going to continue to say it because I don’t mince words the kawhai Leonard experience as as a Clipper fan in my opinion has not

Been fun it has not because of Health not because I don’t like watching him play I love watching him play but it has not been fun last year was not fun 2022 was fun not for reasons revolving around Kawai it was because we had an underdog team 2021 regular season wasn’t very fun

Playoffs were the best some of the best times of my life bubble let’s not even get started with that 2020 it was fun because because of Kawai and having him but the majority of what I just said it wasn’t fun I want to have fun and

Winning is fun and right now that’s what we’re doing so I’m having fun now I just want to keep the good times rolling and we need some good luck and I’ll give the Clippers credit they have shown the faith in Kawai and coming up going to be looking ahead at Friday’s game against

Memphis is a new streak on the horizon for the clips they beat Toronto they beat Phoenix let’s make it three in a row going to be talking about that coming up I got to tell you a little something about prize picks prize picks is the best daily fantasy sports platform in

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Daily fantasy sports made easy all right so the Clippers take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night the Memphis Grizzlies standing at 14 and 23 the Clippers are 24 and3 and let me tell you this if this isn’t a 15 plus Point Victory I’ll be very disappointed the Clippers have the opportunity to

Win let’s see eight of their last nine with this one and of course 22 of their last 28 since they made the move of putting Russell Westbrook on the bench listen to the laundry list of injuries actually better yet I’ll tell you who’s playing for for Memphis and

That’ll be easier Desmond Bane Luke the nuk Canard Vince Williams Jr jiren Jackson Jr Xavier Tillman Jacob Gillard John conar zier Williams and David Rody no johnar who has torn a labram in his shoulder so he is not going to be playing for the rest of the season which

Is very unfortunate no John Morant they were already without Stephen Adams they were already without Brandon Clark they will also be without Santi aldama I can’t even think of any oh they will also be without Marcus Smart so this has has to be a beat down

Respectfully it has to be a beat down so let’s get it done let’s absolutely get it done local tip off begins at 5:00 obviously when I say local I mean our local time Pacific Time Prime Time the only time that matters and the Clippers hopefully will get this job

Done I think they will there’s not even much to say I don’t want to go into matchups and stuff like that because what’s the point we’re playing the Memphis Grizzlies without everyone so just make sure jasmond Bane doesn’t go off I think that would be the best bet

And hopefully we get another big game from Terrence man shooting the ball he was five for five in his last game James Harden I think he’s due for a good shooting game because he just had a poor one actually no he didn’t he wasn’t that

Bad but five for 12 from the field and two for seven from three I think he’ll have a good one and it would be nice to have a great Russell Westbrook game after a tough one on Wednesday so let’s continue let the good times roll let me

Know what you think of the kawhai extension I know I may have said some things you don’t like I I don’t care I say how I feel and that’s how I feel but it is what it is right hopefully it pays off with the good health I’m going to

Continue to knock on wood if we have kawh Leonard healthy the rewards will be reaped all right so you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dime dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper and LA Sports content and locked on

Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube I want you to let me know what you think of it the age-old proverb continues go Clippers

The LA Clippers have extended Kawhi Leonard for 3 years, 150 million dollars. What does it mean for the Los Angeles Clippers? In this episode, die hard Clipper fan and Host Darian Vaziri reacts to the contract extension. He describes the feeling when he first heard the news, the pros and cons of the deal, and then previews the Memphis Grizzlies game on Friday night.

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