Ranking the top 3 trade destinations for Kawhi Leonard if the Clippers blow it

The here comes the bill for the Los Angeles Clippersand debt collection does not look good. They are selling their future as early as 2019 to bring in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George is coming back to haunt them as they so far battle an injury-ravaged and aging roster for the entire 2025-26 season.

They fell to 5-13 on the season after theirs Tuesday night’s NBA Cup loss to the Los Angeles Lakers — putting them on par with the likes of the Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings in the Western standings. That’s not the kind of company this Clippers team wants to keep — not when they owe their unprotected 2026 first-round pick to the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

At this point, however, it is not clear what can the Clippers do to save their season. Leonard is back from ankle and foot injuries, and yet the Clippers are still there, having lost three of their previous four games and two straight even with their star player back on the court.

This Clippers team is shaky, dilapidated, and right now everything looks bleak for them. Bradley Beal is out for the season. Derrick Jones Jr. has been away for several weeks. They entered the season looking like a team with so much depth, but the old players they needed to continue to be productive, like Chris Paul and Brook Lopez, looked washed out.

With there is no incentive for a first round pickit’s unlikely the Clippers will ever blow him up. They will fight to the bitter end, with James Harden trying to prevent a basketball apocalypse (if the pick they owe the Thunder somehow becomes the first overall selection).

But if they decide to hold a fire sale and sell everything, here are some teams that have to be very interested in Leonard.

3. Golden State Warriors

To say the Warriors are in trouble this season would be a huge understatement. They have a ton to work on, sure, but going 10-10 isn’t the end of the world. They are simply still ready to start the year amid a rough schedule, and once the schedule gets easier, the Warriors should be able to climb the standings.

Regardless, it’s clear the Warriors will retire the trade later in the season, with Jonathan Kuminga will most likely give way. Kuminga has been the subject of trade rumors for some time now, and while his relationship with the Dubs brass appears to be much improved, his long injury absence seems like there’s more to the situation than meets the eye.

However, bringing in Leonard doesn’t seem to be anything close to a viable solution to their problems. Their roster is old, and they don’t have many players who can pressure the rim. Leonard doesn’t solve any of those things.

But with the Warriors making a bed with Jimmy Butler anyway, going all-in on an old, competitive roster seems like the only way to go for this team. They can no longer be dragged along with the two timeline things that have been going on there for a while.

Leonard would give the Warriors another crunch-time killer, a perimeter shooter who can get a shot at any moment, and a solid perimeter defender, even at his age and more injury-prone. They would have to give up so many players besides Kuminga, however, to make the money work, making such a deal impossible.

2. Milwaukee Bucks

The The Bucks were so desperate to compete this season, they decided to waive and extend the hundreds of millions remaining on Damian Lillard’s contract so they could make room to…sign Myles Turner. Now, that’s not a knock on Turner. Turner has been part of many winning teams in the past, including the 2025 NBA Finals runner-up, the Indiana Pacers.

Turner, however, is not a transformative presence, and expecting him to be would always be a miscalculation. And right now, the Bucks are floundering. They have lost six straight games in Giannis Antetokounmpo’s battle with a groin injury, and are losing ground in the Eastern Conference. Ryan Rollins is doing his best, but this Bucks team just doesn’t have enough talent around Giannis to be anything more than first-round playoff fodder, even in a weaker conference.

That’s what makes Leonard another possible Bucks Hail Mary. This doesn’t mean the Bucks would want to trade for Leonard if he becomes available, nor does it mean the Clippers would want to trade him to Cream City.

For starters, the Bucks don’t have much in the way of attracting young players or draft picks to offer to the Clippers in any potential trade. One would think LA would want to get some draft capital to set them on their merry way in their rebuild.

But The Bucks can use another All-Star next to Antetokounmpo. Doc Rivers, for what it’s worth, also has some experience coaching Leonard.

Leonard would give the Bucks a legitimate perimeter player, freeing up Antetokounmpo to do even more damage from the paint. And if the Bucks manage to keep Rollins (almost impossible) in this whole ordeal, then that’s already an impressive trio to build around.

But again, the lack of a plausible trade scenario between these two teams means the Bucks only rank third in terms of Leonard’s top destinations.

1. Miami Heat

The Heat have been one of the most pleasant surprises in the NBA this season. Expectations weren’t high for them after finishing 37-45 during the 2024-25 campaign that ended with a blowout by the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. But head coach Erik Spoelstra turned things around for this Heat team, they are overhauling the offense, and their defense has been as good as you could imagine.

After a 106-103 win over the Bucks in NBA Cup action on Wednesday, they moved to 13-6 on the season, looking like a legitimate contender in the wide-open Eastern Conference, especially now that Tyler Hero is back from injury.

An old saying goes that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. For this Heat team, this could be true. After all, the vibes are high for the entire team, and everyone feeds into this egalitarian offense that gets the most out of the talent at their disposal.

But the Heat front office is always in the business of acquiring superstar talent — bringing them to the top of Leonard’s potential trade destinations.

Miami has the money to make a potential Leonard trade work, and they have all of their first-round picks from 2028 to 2032 to deal with in any hypothetical negotiations with the Clippers.

Leonard can also fit on this Heat team given that he will simply replace Andrew Wiggins in the starting line-up. Wiggins is a good player, but Leonard, injuries aside, is a much better player in every way than the 30-year-old power forward.

With an insult not relying more on the pick-and-roll, instead of going all-in in a one-on-one, isolation-based freestyle driven by quick ball movement and decision-making, Leonard could use his superior one-on-one scoring skills to bask in this heat ecosystem.

Miami has shown this season that it can win despite being shorthanded (Ero has only played in two games this season). So Leonardo’s workload management shouldn’t be too much of a problem.