Should Knicks Look Into Adding Kawhi Leonard?

This recent scandal, broken by investigative journalist Pablo Torre, only further hurt Leonard's LA standing, which already wasn't great after he failed to lead his Clippers over the Denver Nuggets in last season's first round of the playoffs. The day-to-day headaches that he's brought to front office were already enough for several Clippers voices to claim that his time in Los Angeles may be running out, a culmination of all of the franchise's shortcomings over the last half-decade.

His contract, a three-year, $149.5 million deal, is set to run out in two summers. He's owed around $50 million over his next two seasons, making trading for him a difficult endeavor unless they'd be willing to part ways with a major earner in Karl-Anthony Towns or OG Anunoby. It's unlikely that Leonard, still an All-Star-caliber scorer, will go for even a high-level role player like Anunoby, while Towns is younger and makes for a more reliable asset to manage.

The front office could always scrape together a package led by Mikal Bridges with a few picks and various salaries, but such a hassle of a move would empty the Knicks of the depth they've spent all summer carefully accruing while making their on-court chances that much more dependent on such a famous question mark.

He'll be available to sign out of free agency in two years, but by then he'll be on the cusp of his 36th birthday with even more miles on famously-unreliable legs. The Knicks have taken the time to build their own version of a contender in locating all the scorers they can find to surround Brunson with, and such a move for Leonard is much more similar to the Knicks of old as opposed to the more thoughtful current regime.

Even if Torre hadn't already jokingly threatened to investigate Brunson's own Knicks contract, this is a safe stay-away.