Los Angeles Clippers would be biggest losers without Kawhi Leonard

We may not know who Kawhi Leonard will play for next year but we do know if it is not the Los Angeles Clippers then they will be the biggest losers of the ordeal.

The Los Angeles Clippers have been touted for quite some time as the favorites for Kawhi Leonard. The team fit the Southern California billing and provided him a place where he did not have to play in LeBron James shadow.

All of that confidence may have led to some shocked fans as Leonard still has not signed with an NBA team this offseason. And based on all of the reports that are surfacing, which are all about the Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers, it appears as if Leonard won’t be a Clipper.

Of course, this could all be a ruse. The Los Angeles Clippers might just be holding their cards close to their chest with the Lakers and Raptors leaking information in hopes it will gain momentum and persuade Kawhi.

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Regardless of what happens, Leonard will likely make his decision soon and two of the three teams will end up without his services. Of all three teams, the Los Angeles Clippers would indeed be the biggest losers if they do not land Leonard.

And before you head to the comments, Twitter or my email address calling me a biased Laker fan — don’t worry, Laker fans do the same thing calling me a Clipper fan — hear me out (I also have no horse in the race, I want both LA teams to succeed, it helps my job, after all).

The Los Angeles Lakers already have two stars in place in LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Yes, they will be screwed over as they will miss out on some of the more significant role players by waiting so long on Leonard.

However, at the core, a team that has LeBron, Davis and Kyle Kuzma as the three best players is a title-contending team. If healthy, that team should still be able to win the Western Conference and can add role players next offseason.

The Toronto Raptors would be the worse of the three teams without Leonard but honestly, that is fine. The team is still barely coming off its first-ever NBA Championship and even if Leonard leaves, his one year in the city will be more than worth it.

I am sure Raptor fans obviously want to see him stay, but it won’t sting as much if he leaves as they look at the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The Clippers, on the other hand, have no star power and no championships to turn to. Just like the Lakers, the team would also have to add lesser role players, hoping the cap space can roll over into another star next summer.

This does not mean that the Clippers can’t do anything, not at all. The team still has some assets to make a trade for a big name, but you know the front office would much rather maintain those assets and sign a star.

Plus, the free agent class is very thin when it comes to star power. There might be more role players but the biggest stars available will be Kyle Lowry, Anthony Davis, DeMar DeRozan and Gordon Hayward, if the latter three reject their player options.

And chances are Davis stays with the Lakers, leaving the three-best possible options all being guys who should be the second or third best player on a title-contending team.

Not landing Kawhi Leonard significantly pushes the team’s title contention back and might force the Clippers to overpay someone next summer just to have someone. Suddenly, they would be in the same predicament as they were when they wanted to trade Blake Griffin.

dark. Next. Possible trade to make if Kawhi doesn't sign

Signing Kawhi Leonard is not do or die for the Los Angeles Clippers, they could figure it out with or without him. However, they are going to have a significantly harder time than the other two teams if they don’t indeed land him.

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