![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2254844238_1546ff.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> turned down a trade offer from the Golden State Warriors<\/a> to acquire Kawhi Leonard<\/a> during the season\u2019s trade deadline. ESPN released an article going in depth about what happened and why the Clippers showed no interest. Golden State apparently viewed Leonard as one of their dream targets after the Clippers gave up on contending via trading James Harden<\/a> and Ivica Zubac<\/a> to other teams.<\/p>\n Ramona Shelburne reported that<\/a> owner Steve Ballmer was the one to turn down the deal:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Warriors had called about (Kawhi\u2019s) availability a handful of times over the years and been quickly rebuffed. The Clippers hadn\u2019t given much oxygen to the Warriors\u2019 pursuit.<\/p>\n But they hadn\u2019t given an outright rejection, either, and it gave the Warriors hope they might be able to hit one more big shot in an era defined by them.<\/p>\n The Clippers brass brought the idea up top to governor Steve Ballmer for discussion. By morning the Warriors had their answer. It was a no.\u201d<\/p>\n Ballmer flat out refused to trade Leonard at that point and didn\u2019t want to lose his face of the franchise. Harden and Zubac were important names for the team dynamic, but they weren\u2019t the ones selling tickets. Ballmer decided to keep Kawhi for at least the rest of the season to ensure the Clippers had a superstar to continue holding relevance in the NBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n Clippers\u2019 Stance On Trading Kawhi Is Changing<\/p>\n The refusal to go for a Leonard trade at the deadline may not be the case in the upcoming offseason. Kawhi only has one year left on his contract to make his future a more interesting topic. The Clippers should field offers since Leonard is coming off one of the best seasons of his career.<\/p>\n Golden State is reportedly still interested, but other teams like the Miami Heat<\/a> and Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> have young assets to offer and motives to improve their roster. Kawhi has a chance to help a team contend, and the Clippers can get some young assets to build a new roster.<\/p>\n The Clippers acquired Darius Garland<\/a> and Bennedict Mathurin<\/a> at the deadline to get much younger. Timing is right to move Leonard since they\u2019ll have to extend him on a longer deal to keep him. Kawhi\u2019s injury history makes it unlikely the Clippers will offer a strong extension.<\/p>\n Golden State Still Wants Kawhi Leonard<\/p>\n Golden State has a desperate need to improve the roster in the offseason and add talent around Stephen Curry<\/a>. Jimmy Butler<\/a>\u2019s injury will see him missing at least a few months next season to complicate things.<\/p>\n Rumors suggest that the Warriors believe they will be able to add Leonard, LeBron James<\/a>, or Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> as one of the massive three names on the market this summer. James is a free agent, but the other two would require a trade.<\/p>\n Everyone will likely be available on the Golden State roster outside of Curry. However, Leonard may be the most affordable via a trade since the Clippers can\u2019t demand too much for an older player who has played over 60 games just twice in his six seasons in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJoey Haverford<\/a> Joey Haverford is a seasoned sports content writer with over 12 years of experience. He has covered the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NFL, and professional wrestling in the sports industry. More about Joey Haverford<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Warriors\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard The Los Angeles Clippers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-714911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-clippers","12":"tag-laclippers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesclippers","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116439972373362698","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}