Kawhi Leonard has signed his new contract with the Los Angeles Clippers, and it will put much of the speculation about his immediate future to bed.
According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Leonard’s new contract is for four years, including a player option. Under the Early Bird rights the Clippers held on Leonard, that’s the longest contract he could have signed with the team.
Leonard will earn $176.3 million over the course of the deal. Leonard is set to be with the Clippers through at least 2024 and possibly 2025. It also means he will get less money than he would have had he decided to enter free agency next summer instead.
Here is the breakdown on the $176.3M contract for Kawhi Leonard:
21/22- $39.34M
22/23- $42.49M
23/24- $45.64M
24/25- $48.78M (Player)Leonard could have signed a four-year $187M extension if he had opted-in to his $36M contract in 2021/22.
Total would have been $223M
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) August 12, 2021
There had been some chatter that Leonard might be willing to listen to pitches from other teams in free agency. That clearly didn’t happen. The fact that he’s made a fairly long-term commitment to the Clippers is pretty clear evidence that he never really seemed interested in leaving.
Clippers fans, show everyone who runs Los Angeles with this great “We Run LA” shirt. It makes a perfect gift for you or a friend – you can buy it here:
