Clippers May Have a Potential Kawhi Leonard Trade Partner After 1st Round of Playoffs

Following a disappointing first-round exit, the Houston Rockets may turn to Kawhi Leonard as their savior in the offseason.

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Los Angeles Clippers fans are laser-focused on the offseason. Dealing with a ton of uncertainty about the future of the franchise, the Clippers have a ton of important decisions to make over the summer.

The most important one will obviously be regarding Kawhi Leonard. The superstar forward is entering the final year of his contract and is eligible for an extension. Whether he wants to stay in LA going forward is unclear, but the Clippers and Leonard have been attached at the hip since he joined the team in the 2019 offseason.

If the Clippers can build a contender around Leonard and are willing to give him an extension, their partnership will likely continue. If there is hesitation to give Leonard a new deal or the Clippers fail to improve the roster significantly, Kawhi could certainly ask for a trade to greener pastures.

In that scenario, Leonard will have plenty of suitors on the market. According to Will Guillory of The Athletic, the Houston Rockets may be one of those suitors. In his detailed look into the state of the Rockets and their star center Alperen Şengün, Guillory wrote about the possibility of a blockbuster offseason trade.

Rockets Could Reportedly Emerge as a Kawhi Leonard Suitor if They Lose in the 1st Round

The top offseason target for the Rockets if they come up short in the first round is expected to be Giannis Antetokounmpo. Guillory mentions that Leonard and Donovan Mitchell "could also be possibilities."

Houston is currently 3-1 down against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. They have been the most disappointing team of the postseason so far. Despite being heavily favored against a Lakers team missing Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, the Rockets have been outplayed the entire series. Now on the brink of elimination with the series headed back to LA, the Rockets have important questions to ask themselves in the offseason.

A big one will be whether they can win a title with this core. So far, the answer seems like an emphatic no. Does that mean that the Rockets would part ways with Alperen Şengün after the 23-year-old center earned back-to-back All-Star nods?

If the Rockets would actually entertain a trade built around a Leonard-for-Şengün swap, the Clippers should pounce on the opportunity. Houston has draft capital and other assets that they could send LA's way in such a deal, but as the framework of a deal, it's hard to imagine the Clippers doing better than Şengün.

A Darius Garland-Şengün duo would be a one-two punch that the Clippers can build a sustainable winner around. The right pieces, meaning defense-first wings who can thrive off the ball, would be needed to surround those two, but it would be an excellent place to start the next era of Clippers basketball.

For Leonard, the Rockets would presumably be an attractive landing spot. A chance to play next to Kevin Durant and compete for a championship in the dawn of his career, while getting a long-term extension, should be appealing to Leonard if his future doesn't belong in LA. We will find out whether that is the case over the next few months.