Clippers close to deal that would send Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto: Source
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Kawhi Leonard is close to returning to the Raptors for a package that includes All-Star Brandon Ingram. Ezra Shaw / Getty Images
By Law Murray and Sam AmickJune 30, 2026 4:49 pm EDT UpdatedThe Toronto Raptors are nearing a deal with the LA Clippers for Kawhi Leonard, according to a team source who spoke on condition of anonymity so he wouldn’t jeopardize the deal.
The deal, which has not been finalized, is expected to include Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and at least two first-round picks going to the Clippers.
Leonard — who will be in the final year of three-year, $149 million contract — is willing to sign an extension with the Raptors, which played a significant role in Toronto’s decision to attempt to trade for him, according to league sources.
The 2025-26 campaign was arguably Leonard’s finest offensive season. The six-time All-Star earned his seventh All-Star selection and seventh All-NBA honor, making the All-NBA Second Team. He averaged a career-high 27.9 points per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the field and making a career-best 2.6 3-pointers per contest. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year also averaged 1.9 steals per game, his highest mark in eight seasons.
Ingram is coming off of his first All-Star appearance, averaging 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assist for a Raptors team that lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs. The Raptors traded for the 28-year-old in February 2025. Dick has played in 190 games since Toronto drafted him 13th overall in the 2023 NBA draft, but he saw his playing time and points per game cut by more than half last season.
Leonard’s potential departure would end a seven-year tenure that extended the Clippers’ run of winning seasons and bridged the franchise into the era of its new arena in Inglewood. Ultimately, however, the partnership was defined as much by injuries and playoff absences as it was by regular-season success and concluded amid a league investigation into allegations of salary-cap circumvention.
When Leonard joined the Clippers in 2019, he arrived as the reigning NBA Finals MVP after leading the Toronto Raptors to a championship. To pair Leonard with Oklahoma City Thunder star Paul George, the Clippers executed one of the most consequential trades in franchise history, sending 2018 lottery pick Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and control of seven first-round picks to Oklahoma City.
The expectation was clear: The Clippers would immediately contend for championships throughout the primes of two Southern California natives, with Leonard from Moreno Valley and George from Palmdale.
Seven years later, the 35-year-old Leonard was the last remaining player from the 2019-20 roster. The Clippers won just three playoff series during his tenure. Their lone trip to the Western Conference finals came in 2021, when they fell to the Phoenix Suns while Leonard was sidelined with a torn right ACL that cost him the entire 2021-22 season.
The Clippers have not won a playoff series since. In hindsight, the outcome is even more painful considering Gilgeous-Alexander went on to win two NBA MVP awards, a finals MVP and lead the Thunder to the 2025 NBA title.
For years, the Clippers prioritized surrounding Leonard and George with veteran talent. Whether it was trading for Rajon Rondo in 2021, signing Russell Westbrook during the 2022-23 season or acquiring James Harden in a blockbuster deal, the franchise consistently pushed its chips toward the center of the table in pursuit of a championship. But age, injuries and the collective bargaining agreement ratified in 2023 gradually forced the Clippers out of the so-called “213 Era,” named after Leonard’s and George’s jersey numbers while also referencing one of Los Angeles’ most recognizable area codes.
George left for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2024. Westbrook was traded later that offseason despite exercising his player option. Norman Powell was dealt in the summer of 2025 with one year remaining on his contract. Harden followed ahead of the 2026 trade deadline, a move that was soon accompanied by the departure of longtime starting center Ivica Zubac.
“We’ve kind of gone all in, all in, all in,” Clippers basketball president Lawrence Frank said after the February 2026 deadline that saw Harden and Zubac traded in separate deals that netted point guard Darius Garland, shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin, center Isaiah Jackson and several draft picks, one that wound up giving LA the fifth pick of the 2026 NBA Draft. “We’ve made a bunch of trades to kind of please today’s team. … how are we gonna bridge this era to the next era? And with it is, guys who are part of the team now can also be part of the next era. But if everyone is part of the team, there’s a cliff, and you can — it could take years, years to get out of it.”
Naturally, questions about Leonard’s future intensified after the Clippers traded Harden and Zubac at the February deadline.
At the time, Frank emphasized the organization’s strong relationship with Leonard and said the team would continue communicating its long-term vision. Frank reiterated that stance in April, when Leonard became extension-eligible while entering the final season of the contract extension he signed in January 2024.
“The questions came basically once we traded James and Zu,” Frank said after the Clippers squandered a double-digit fourth-quarter lead at home in Leonard’s first career Play-In Tournament appearance.
“Our plan is to win with Kawhi. We’ve obviously shown as an organization that we want to continue, and we are driven to win. So at the appropriate time, we’ll sit down with Kawhi and, very similar to 2024, lay out our plan. If our goals are aligned, then we’d like to win with Kawhi.”
Instead, the Clippers and Leonard are likely headed in separate directions.
The Raptors wanted to keep Leonard in an attempt to make a run at a repeat in 2019, but could not compete with the Clippers’ ability to acquire George and the allure of returning to his native California. Raptors general manager and executive vice-president Bobby Webster, who was then second in command to Masai Ujiri in the Toronto front office, is now the top basketball decision-maker with the organization. Webster was a key player in helping the Raptors acquire Leonard from the Spurs a summer earlier.
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Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
