An annual salary of 50 million yuan, becoming an easy super giant in the league! If Leonard doesn t win the championship, it s time for the Clippers to rebuild tomorrow summer

The NBA has entered a long offseason. Since the Thunder won the championship last season, the balance of the NBA Western Conference has been broken in the offseason. The Rockets have Durant + Finney Smith + Capela, and the Nuggets have Cameron Johnson + Hardaway Jr. + Bruce Brown + Valan. Including the Thunder, the most promising Western Conference championship in the new season is these three teams. The lineup is very balanced and the core age is not very old (Durant will not become the core of the Rockets, it is more like a pawn). But the most surprising thing is the Clippers, who secretly freed up salary space for tomorrow summer (sending Powell away for Collins), including giving Harden a two-year, $81.5 million contract (1+1 second year player option, but only 13 million is guaranteed). On the other hand, they have also created a super grand formation. After the free market opened, Harden was the first to complete the contract renewal, and then signed Lopez for 18 million in two years and led the team in the second year; Batum renewed 11.5 million in two years, followed by sending Powell away for Collins. As the trading market gradually calmed down, the Clippers used another two-year and 11 million contract to win Bill (Harden contributed to this matter). In addition, Los Angeles media confirmed that Paul is getting closer to returning to the Clippers. Paul and Bill are in a similar situation. He hopes to be closer to home (all his family is in Los Angeles), and hopes to join a competitive team. Since then, the Clippers' super strong formation has surfaced, starting: Harden + Bill + Kat + Collins + Zubac; substitutes: Dunn + Bogdan + Batum + Derek Jones + Lopez, waiting for Paul to come.

If you put aside your age, it is definitely a perfect lineup. But the overall age is indeed too old. Harden is about to turn 36, Katou is 34 years old, Bogdan is 33 years old, Batum is 36 years old, Lopez is 38 years old next season, and Bill is 32 years old. If Paul, 41, joins again, the Clippers will become an old-fashioned team. There is no doubt that the Clippers' management has applied their salary to the extreme. The arrival of Daluo and Chris has improved the height + depth + diversity of the lineup; Bill's joining has a good relationship with Harden in private. If Bill maintains an average of 18 points and 50% shooting percentage, his deterrent power can release a lot of offensive pressure on Kazak and Harden. Moreover, Bill's three-point shooting percentage has remained above 41% in the past three seasons!

According to US media analysis, Harden will get more help in the new season, whether it is the launch of the pick-and-roll, the choice of passing, including the way Bill can create opportunities independently. If the Clippers' 10-man rotation remains healthy, they are indeed capable of competing for the championship, but the team's ceiling remains unchanged: Leonard! Leonard has two years left in his contract, with a slight decrease in his annual salary and a slight decrease in his annual salary to help the team make room. First of all, Leonard is the easiest super giant in the league next season. Last season, Harden has proved that with Leonard away, he can still lead the team to maintain the top six in the Western Conference (60% winning rate), which can allow Kah to recover from his injuries for most of the season.

Even if Leonard returns in the second half, averaging 21.5 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists per game, he doesn't need to bear too much pressure to end the offensively. With the arrival of excellent combat powers such as Bill + Collins + Daluo, Leonard will not have much burden on the regular season next season. To borrow the words of the team's reporter, the team's lower limit for the new season is already high enough, and Harden has the ability to guarantee it. Secondly, how long can Leonard be relaxed? Last season, Leonard played the playoffs healthy and averaged 25 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game with the Nuggets in 7 games. It is a little different from his previous four seasons of the playoffs (from leading the Raptors to winning the championship in 2019 to averaging 30 points per game in the first round of the Suns in 23). The objective reason is that his consumption is really high when he plays the fourth position.

And since he came to the Clippers, he has basically played the fourth position for a long time. Either gaining weight leads to increased knee injury risks; or loss of weight leads to insufficient confrontation and dare not exert force. There are too many subjective reasons. When Leonard came to the Clippers, he said he would win three championships in three teams. But over the years, he has been unable to maintain his health, and has failed the trust of the management and has been wasted hundreds of millions of dollars in luxury tax. Next season, Leonard doesn't need him to exert his strength at all in the regular season. Harden has more helpers around him. After the Clippers' lower limit is determined, Leonard only needs to stand up in the playoffs, just like when he was with the Raptors, he scored 76ers in the tiebreak, and led the team to win four games in a row, losing 0-2 to eliminate the Bucks!

The Clippers can give their all over the past few years to build a lineup around Leonard, what have they gained? If the Clippers still cannot win the championship in the new season, or if they take a step back and cannot reach the Western Conference Final (bottom limit), then the Clippers can turn the bow of the ship at any time without playing, which will lay the groundwork for Harden's second-year partial guarantee contract. Collins also has an expiration contract. The Clippers can easily free up their salary space, then send Leonard away, eat the garbage contract and rebuild it. Year after year, many superstars in the league are not as good as Leonard's treatment, but next season is also Leonard's last chance!