Another Marquee Team Tried to Trade for Kawhi Leonard

The LA Clippers essentially gave up on their season at the trade deadline last month, trading away James Harden and center Ivica Zubac. With that, some teams around the league began sniffing around to see if they could pry Kawhi Leonard away as well.

The latest report, from Anthony Slater of ESPN, says the Golden State Warriors made an attempt to land Kawhi from the Clips.

The Warriors attempted to trade for Kawhi Leonard before the deadline last month, per @anthonyVslater (https://t.co/25GDPeYkI4).

With Leonard’s future in Los Angeles uncertain after this season, Golden State looms as a potential destination this summer. pic.twitter.com/Cv6aKeMS2y
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) March 6, 2026

And while Giannis Antetokounmpo is another target the Warriors have had on their radar for a while, Leonard's name will also be floated as potential trade bait once again this summer. And Golden State will try again.

Of course, the Warriors, Clippers, and everyone else around basketball first needs to see what kind of discipline the NBA comes down with on the Kawhi/Clippers cap circumvention affair. The league is conducting an investigation, and the voiding of Leonard's contract (one more year, $50M) is on the table as a potential punishment.

In 47 games this season, Leonard is proving that he's still in the superstar category, putting up 27.9 points per game, with 6.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists. He's also shooting 37.5% from three-point land.

The Warriors pivoted to Kristaps Porzingis at the deadline when they were told no on Giannis and Kawhi, and that's turned out to be a booby prize to this point. A month after the trade, he's only played one game with the Warriors due to a mysterious illness.

He's been day-to-day this week, and was questionable ahead of Saturday night's game.