With the rumor that Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers circumvented the salary cap with a fraudulent endorsement deal, ideas for potential punishments have been popping up. Leonard’s contract being voided, much like Joe Smith’s was in the early 2000s with the Minnesota Timberwolves, was thrown around as a concept, and Tom Haberstroh of Yahoo Sports even threw out the wild scenario in which Leonard signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder afterward:
“Plus, in the scenario of Leonard’s contract being voided, no teams currently have $50 million of cap space with which to offer Leonard, if he sought a similar deal to the one he’s currently on,” Haberstroh wrote. “And that presents its own playing-field quandary. Getting a player of Leonard’s caliber for, say, the mid-level exception would launch a bizarre sweepstakes the likes of which the NBA has never seen.
“You thought the Warriors getting Durant in 2016 because of a cap spike was unfair? Imagine if the Oklahoma City Thunder get Leonard for $8.5 million, what remains of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception, per Keith Smith’s cap analysis. How ‘bout them apples?”
What would Kawhi Leonard on the Thunder do to the NBA?
As Haberstroh wrote himself, Leonard joining the Thunder may break the league more than Kevin Durant signing with the Golden State Warriors did almost a decade ago.
The Thunder are already set up to be a potential dynasty, so what would adding Leonard mix do? Imagine they replaced Lu Dort in the starting lineup with Leonard and rolled out a lineup of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Leonard, Chet Holmgren, and Isaiah Hartenstein.
The individual talent in that lineup is one thing, but how would any team score on that starting five? Even if they went small, replaced Hartenstein with Dort, and played that way, it would still be unstoppable.
OKC won its first championship in franchise history this past season with one of the youngest groups in the NBA. Adding Leonard’s postseason shot-making and defensive skills would do more than take them to another level—it might just make them unstoppable.
Obviously, some wild steps would have to be taken by the NBA first before Leonard hit free agency, let alone him choosing to sign with the Thunder. Voiding his contract with the Clippers would be an internet-breaking move by Adam Silver and the league office.
But based on the way things are looking, it’s certainly not an impossibility.
The fact that the hypothetical situation of Leonard signing with the Thunder for less than $10 million even exists is crazy enough to think about.