Kawhi Leonard joined the Los Angeles Clippers in 2019 on a two-year contract with a player option for a third year. It was widely assumed that Leonard would not pick up said option and become an unrestricted free agent this summer with an eye on signing a new deal, one that would keep him in L.A. for some period of time.
Ultimately, Leonard decided to hit free agency, and on Friday, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported that Leonard will indeed return to the Clippers, with the terms of the deal still up in the air.
Free agent star Kawhi Leonard has decided that he is re-signing with the Los Angeles Clippers and terms are being discussed, league sources tell @YahooSports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) August 6, 2021
It’s unclear if Leonard will be able to play at some point during the 2021-22 season. The do-everything forward suffered a knee injury in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Utah Jazz, and while there was hope that he could potentially return in the conference finals against the Phoenix Suns, that never happened, as Leonard needed to undergo to undergo surgery on what was eventually diagnosed as a partial ACL tear in his right knee.
Still, whenever Leonard returns, he’ll give his team one of the best basketball players in the world and someone capable of lifting a squad to a championship. A first-team All-NBA selection last season, Leonard averaged 24.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.6 steals in 34.1 minutes per game while connecting on 51.2 percent of his field goals and 39.8 percent of his attempts from three.