The Clippers might be a surprisingly good team this season, but they aren’t one to rest on what they have and settle. Los Angeles wants to become a contender again and to do that they need superstars. They even have targets already in mind. They want Kawhi Leonard. The former Spurs star is currently playing for the Raptors, but the Clippers were on his short list of teams when he initially asked for a trade.
Los Angeles knows it has a chance at Leonard. And when you have a chance at someone you need to aggressively pursue it. That’s what the Clippers are doing. Almost to a weird level. Los Angeles has been doing some heavy scouting of Leonard and the Raptors this season.
It’s not uncommon for opposing teams to scout some of the NBA’s best players, but according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst the Clippers level of scouting has reached an obsession.
“The Clippers are rather transparently obsessed with chasing Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant in free agency next summer.
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But even by these modern standards, the Clippers’ pursuit is still a little revolutionary. Raptors officials have noticed a Clippers employee at roughly 75 percent of the team’s games thus far this season. Clippers officials say they’ve been at less than 50 percent of Leonard’s games. There have been games they attended where Leonard rested. That has included president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, which is rare. Presidents and general managers are almost never seen attending a game that doesn’t involve their teams.”
Are the Clippers trying to court Leonard and show interest in him without tampering? That’s a possibility, or maybe they’re just really confident in Toronto’s ability to make the NBA Finals. Need to be ready for that Los Angeles vs. Toronto NBA Finals that everybody is ready for.
The Clippers have an obvious and definite desire to bring Leonard to Los Angeles, but right now all they can do is scout him as much as possible and maybe talk to associates of Leonard when given the chance. That’s one way to avoid tampering charges and at the same time figure out how Leonard will fit into any future systems they may want him in.
Of course, this is if Leonard even goes to the Clippers in the first place. He could always choose somewhere else, or maybe he’ll just stay in Toronto with the Raptors. Leonard has options. The Clippers, however, appear to be putting a lot of time and energy into Leonard. They’ll need to toe that line carefully or it could backfire on them. Nobody wants to play for someone that seems desperate.
