There were murmurs of the Golden State Warriors late play for Kawhi Leonard before February's trade deadline, but Tim Kawakami of The San Fransisco Standard took that a step further on Thursday by reporting that the franchise was actually "reasonably close" to a deal for the All-Star forward.
Yet we really shouldn't be surprised that the Clippers ultimately pulled out of a blockbuster trade that sends an All-Star forward to one of their closest rivals. They've done this before in recent years, and we haven't actually had a trade between the two franchises in over 35 years.
Clippers were never going to trade Kawhi Leonard to the Warriors
In the wake of trading integral players James Harden and Ivica Zubac in the hours and days before the deadline, Kawakami reports the Clippers were close to sending Leonard to the Bay before pulling out of talks.
This ultimately failed trade brings back memories of talks between the two teams in the 2024 offseason when the Warriors were chasing another star Clippers forward in Paul George.
Yet instead of taking a trade package from Golden State, the Los Angeles front office instead chose to let George opt out of his contract, become an unrestricted free agent, and walk to the Philadelphia 76ers for nothing in return but some financial freedom.
According to George himself shortly after his move to the 76ers, a trade to the Warriors was close to being done before the Clippers, as was the case with Leonard, decided to opt out of the move.
"That was a real thing that was close to being done. That deal was close to being done from what I was being told on the situation, they was expressing just how much they wanted me there, how I could have fit in perfectly," George said on his podcast in July 2024.
Warriors and Clippers have scarce trade history
The Warriors and Clippers have only made one trade in history, or four if you want to include the latter's history as the San Diego Clippers and Buffalo Braves. You have to go back to February 22, 1990 to find a deal between the two teams, with Golden State sending Winston Garland to Los Angeles for two second-round picks.
As much as we now have two occasions in two years of the Clippers refusing to trade a star forward to the Warriors, it's not that unusual that a team wouldn't want to trade a key player to a close divisional rival.
Sam Amick of The Athletic reported during last offseason that part of Golden State's unwillingness to trade Jonathan Kuminga to the Sacramento Kings was because they didn't want him developing into a star in the California capital.