Surprise Kawhi Leonard extension is sensational news for Spurs

The NBA is on a roll this week with interesting news coming out, first with the Dejounte Murray report and now the Clippers decision to extend former San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard on a three-year, $152 million deal. The agreement comes with one more year on Leonard's contract with The Klaw set to make $48 million in the 2024–2025 season.

Kawhi declined that final year, giving him the ability to agree to the new deal that will pay him an average of almost $51 million per year starting next season. Adrian Wojnarowski reports the Clippers are also currently working on an extension for their second superstar, Paul George, and this development is excellent news for San Antonio.

The Clippers are all in and that benefits the Spurs

This is simple. Due to trades and massive contracts, the Clippers are financially strapped. If they do not win in the next couple of years, they will be in a desperate situation with little to no assets to help right the ship. Los Angeles owner Steve Ballmer has spared no expense in establishing the Clippers' identity separate from their big brothers, the Los Angeles Lakers.

The moves made by that front office over the last few years make it obvious that a major goal is to legitimize the organization with a championship trophy, causing them to act recklessly, trading all of their first-round picks away. Currently, the Clippers do not own a single first-round selection until the year 2030.

To be fair, the only other player on their books past the 2025 season is Kobe Brown, but at that point, we're talking about trying to build around possibly overpaid, aging stars who already struggle to stay on the floor. Leonard and Paul George have only played about 148 regular-season games together out of a possible 410 due to injury.

A team with these kinds of dynamics at play will likely not be in serious contention by the time the Spurs are rounding into form and ready to challenge for the top of the Western Conference. That essentially takes one team out of the way for San Antonio. Looking at the youth of this team means looking at the big picture; mathematically speaking, fans should want the fewest number of elite teams as possible to speed up the return to greatness.

There is enough young talent in the league right now, making it easy to foresee enough problems as they are. If more teams would make rash decisions and take themselves out of the running, that would be great. Please, and thank you.

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