Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are eligible for contract extensions with the Clippers this offseason but an NBA insider thinks the pair definitely won’t be getting the four-year deals they’re after.
33-year-old George and 32-year-old Kawhi have been plagued by injuries throughout their careers, especially in recent seasons and ESPN’s Brian Windhorst says the veterans shouldn’t hold their breath for respective four-year deals.
“I don’t think there’s any chance that those guys get four-year extensions,” Windhorst said. “They both can be free agents after next season because they have player options. There’s no chance that they’re getting extended four years. I would be stunned if they get extended four years. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t get extended, though. And that the Clippers won’t make an offer or even a multi-year offer.”
The pair are known for the amount of time they have spent on the sidelines and both players missed the postseason in 2023 again due to injury.
Neither of them are getting any younger and haven’t been able to obtain a ring with LA as yet.
After recently facing some criticism from PG-13 himself, another insider in ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith hit back and spoke about how George and Leonard are practically wasting the money the Clippers have spent on them.
“You’ve missed 119 of 307 regular season games,” Smith said. “That’s 38 percent due to injuries. In that time span, you’ve earned $148.2 million in your career. $57.3 million of those money’s worth the games missed. Kawhi Leonard, he’s missed 147 of 308 regular season games. That’s 48 percent due to injuries, Kawhi’s earned $146.9 million in his career with the Clippers. About $70.8 million for games he’s missed. I don’t see the Clipper fans getting any refunds.”
No doubt, when the pair are healthy they are incredible on the court but the key word is healthy.
Over the summer, the Clippers re-signed former league MVP Russell Westbrook who took it upon himself to carry the team in the postseason in the absence of George and Leonard.
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