LOS ANGELES: Kawhi Leonard is going home to play for the Los Angeles Clippers, reportedly agreeing to a multi-million dollar deal less than a month after leading the Toronto Raptors to their first NBA championship.
Leonard will be joined in Los Angeles by all-star forward Paul George, who the Clippers are reported to be getting in a separate trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder, ESPN reported on Friday night.
The two-time NBA finals MVP Leonard grew up in Riverside, California just outside of Los Angeles. He will join a young Clippers team that will give him a similar starring role to what he had with the Toronto Raptors.
Although deals cannot be announced until Saturday night, Leonard's decision was late compared with other star free agents. As many as 80 other players had already agreed reported deals worth somewhere over $3 billion.
The trade for George also cannot be announced until Saturday, but US media reported that the two deals are linked.
Leonard made the arrival of another established star a condition of signing for the youthful Clippers and lobbied George to join him.
The Thunder will receive 20-year-old Canadian guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, veteran Italian Danilo Gallinari and a package of NBA draft picks in exchange for George, ESPN said.
Leonard, who was one of the most highly sought after NBA free agents, met with the Raptors, the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers before making his decision on where to play next season.
If he does make the move, Leonard is expected to sign a four-year, $142 million contract, the most the Clippers are allowed to offer. Under the salary cap rules, the Raptors had been able to offer a five-year $190 million deal.
Leonard, a 6-foot-7 forward, joined Toronto from San Antonio last July after engineering a trade from the Spurs, where he had one year left on his contract and had won an NBA title in 2014.
The Raptors gave up All-Star guard DeMar DeRozan and a former top-10 draft pick, Austrian centre Jakob Poeltl in the deal, hoping to win a first NBA championship and then sign Leonard to a contract extension.
Leonard delivered on the first of those goals. He led the Raptors to their first title in franchise history when they beat the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors in six games in the NBA finals.
He averaged 26.6 rebounds and 7.3 rebounds in 60 regular-season games. He was even better in the playoffs, averaging 30.5 points and 9.1 rebounds. He scored a Game 7 buzzer-beater to eliminate Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference semi-finals and was named series Most Valuable Player in the finals.
Leonard's decision is particularly painful for the Lakers who had hoped to complete the creation of a "big three" of Leonard, LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The franchise has reportedly agreed to give up three players and three first-round draft picks in a four-team trade to land Davis from the New Orleans Penguins. For his part, Davis had reportedly accepted less than the maximum salary to leave cap space for Leonard.