With their hopes of landing Giannis Antetokounmpo having already faded to a shadow, the Golden State Warriors could be about to lose out again when it comes to trading for L.A. Clippers star Kawhi Leonard.
The Warriors made a play for Leonard before the mid-season deadline and have been linked to the 7x All-Star in recent weeks, but it may be another key rival in the Minnesota Timberwolves who come over the top and offer a more intriguing package to the Clippers.
Warriors could lose out to Timberwolves in Kawhi Leonard trade
Speaking recently on the Third Apron podcast, Law Murray of The Athletic poured cold water on the possibility of Golden State acquiring Leonard, suggesting the Timberwolves could offer a better package with a combination of Julius Randle and/or Rudy Gobert along with future draft capital.
“I don’t think the Clippers should be interested in taking back those current Warriors (Draymond Green or Jimmy Butler). The Timberwolves (trade) is probably the best of those," Murray said. "I'm sure Minnesota would love to pair McDaniels who works out with Kawhi, with Anthony Edwards. That allows them to look at next season and say, we can probably take another leap here. Whereas the Clippers would get the better players.”
Given Leonard's age and injury history, the Clippers aren't necessarily going to be able to get back three or four first-round picks that would help kickstart a rebuild, having already traded James Harden and Ivica Zubac at February's mid-season deadline.
Therefore it makes sense that, even if they trade Leonard, the Clippers try to remain as competitive as possible in the short-term. There's no doubt therefore that Randle and/or Gobert are going to be more helpful in that scenario compared to Green or an injured Butler who's set to miss a chunk of next season recovering from injury.
Warriors face problem if they want to trade Jimmy Butler
It's appearing more and more likely that the Warriors, despite their past intentions as recently as the mid-season deadline, will turn away from trying to acquire a big time star like Antetokounmpo or Leonard.
Perhaps that's because they understand the difficulty of pulling a move like that right now given Butler's injury. The 6x All-Star has to be included in any blockbuster trade simply to match salary, but Golden State face a problem in finding a taker for his contract.
Any team willing to take Butler right now would have to be a rebuilding one that's not overly concerned on winning next season, meaning a third team would likely have to get involved if they truly wanted to pursue Leonard again.
The Timberwolves potential offer is more simplistic and quite frankly better, leaving the Warriors in the dark again and struggling to keep up with the arms race in an increasingly difficult Western Conference.
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