Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports said that Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers agreed on a new four-year contract for the All-Star forward to stay with the team.
Last week, he declined his $36 million option, which allowed him to sign a deal worth 35% of the Clippers salary cap. With this, Leonard can earn $3 million more upwards for the 2021-22 season. His new contract with the Clippers includes a player option for the deals final season and a total salary of $176.3 million.
There had not been any serious worry for the Clippers that Leonard may go to another team. However, there have also been reports before free agency that the forward is willing to listen to other teams. But now, he is officially with Los Angeles Clippers.
While Leonard is back in LA, he will likely miss a big part of the 2021-22 season due to having had surgery in July. He had a partially torn ACL sustained during the teams playoff run that was repaired through surgery. As of now, there is no announced timetable for when he will be back next season.
Leonard performed remarkably in the playoffs averaging 30.4 points, 4.4 assists, and 7.7 rebounds. However, he could not play the last two games of Clippers in the semifinal series. He was also on the sidelines the entire time of the Clippers game against the Suns.