Kawhi Leonard Reveals Why He Chose to Sign a Four-Year Deal

Leonard says he passed up the chance at a supermax deal for a reason.

Once it was essentially confirmed that Kawhi Leonard would re-sign with the LA Clippers this past offseason, the speculation turned to the length of his contract. If he were to have signed a two-year, $82 million deal with a player option on the second season (a one-plus-one), he could have opted out again in 2022 and signed a supermax deal, coming in at five years, $235 million. It seemed like the logical choice, given that he’d already opted out of his current contract to become a free agent rather than opt in and sign a four-year, $187 million extension. However, he ultimately elected to sign a four-year, $176 million contract as a free agent, committing to the Clippers for the long run.

This decision still doesn’t quite make sense money-wise, other than the fact that he’ll be a free agent sooner on the contract he chose as opposed to opting in and extending. However, Leonard did explain at Media Day on Monday why he chose the four-year deal over the one-plus-one-to-supermax route.

“Because I wanted to play,” Leonard said “I mean, the best situation for me was to do it one-and-one and then opt out and sign a long-term five-year deal, but there's a lot of concerns that that brings up for you guys and your job and it creates storylines that I'm going to leave the team. One thing, I wanted to secure some money, and I wanted to be able to come back if I was able to this year. If I would have took the one-and-one, I probably would have not played just to be cautious and opted out and took a five-year.”

That’s a lot to unpack, and a shockingly open answer from the normally enigmatic Leonard. First off, the aversion to another year-long cycle of free agency media speculation is hilariously on-brand for him. But what’s more intriguing is the desire to play at some point during the upcoming season. Leonard had ACL surgery following an injury sustained in the playoffs, and is set to miss a significant amount of time recovering. Leonard says if he’d taken the one-plus-one, he wouldn’t have wanted to risk sustaining another injury that could cost him the supermax by playing.

Leonard obviously views his team as a contender and wants to capitalize on their championship window, but he’s also justifiably cautious with his money. The decision to sign the four-year max gives him financial security and a guarantee that if he does attempt a return this season, he won’t be putting hundreds of millions of dollars at risk in the process.

Clipper fans should take this as the strongest sign yet that Leonard will play at some point in the 2021-22 season. He obviously can’t predict the future or know how successful his rehab process will be, but we now know he wants to play and compete for a title this year, so much so that he was willing to forgo a chance at quite a bit of extra money. 

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