A week ago, it was revealed that the Los Angeles Clippers may have attempted to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap to pay star forward Kawhi Leonard by entering into an agreement with Leonard’s LLC for a “no-show job” for $28 million.

An NBA executive said that the Los Angeles Lakers, who were in pursuit of Leonard in July 2019 before the forward signed with the Clippers, “dodged a massive bullet by not landing him.” According to another report by Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star, Leonard didn’t want to play alongside LeBron James to begin with.

Now, a Lakers source says that the team is always glad Leonard didn’t come in 2019.

Via Lakers Daily:

“We wanted him in 2019, but we count our blessings all the time he’s not here,” the Lakers source said. “He’s been such a headache for the Clippers. I actually feel bad for them sometimes.”

When Leonard came to the Clippers along with fellow All-Star veteran forward Paul George in 2019, they were immediately tabbed as the favorites to win the NBA championship. But since then, they have reached the Western Conference finals just once and haven’t won a single playoff series since 2021.

George left in free agency last summer to join the Philadelphia 76ers. Meanwhile, Leonard has often been injured and has appeared in more than 57 games in a season just once for the Clippers. Last season, he played in only 37 contests.

When he is healthy, he is still an excellent player, although there has been some slippage over the last few years. But he is now 34 years of age, and he has two years left on an official contract that will pay him roughly $50 million in each of the next two seasons.

Had Leonard come to the Lakers in 2019, it would’ve been very difficult for them to fill out the rest of their roster with quality role players. As it turned out, they assembled a robust supporting cast that offseason around James and Anthony Davis and won the 2020 NBA title.

They now have a 26-year-old Luka Doncic as the centerpiece of their franchise, while James, at age 40, is seemingly ageless and continues to play at an All-NBA level.