Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard purchased a $13.3 million, 13,000 square foot home in Rancho Santa Fe, California, according to a Thursday report from Neal J. Leitereg of the Los Angeles Times.
Ashish Mathur of ClutchPoints tweeted out a picture via Redfin.
The natural question is whether this purchase foreshadows a summer move to the Los Angeles Clippers, since Leonard can opt out of his current contract and become a free agent next offseason.
Tim Bontemps of ESPN reported on Jan. 3 that “the popular opinion among league executives six months before Leonard makes his decision is that he’ll choose between the Raptors and the Clippers.”
However, it seems unlikely the house purchase has an effect on his future NBA destination.
First, the drive from Rancho Santa Fe to Playa Vista, where the Clippers practice, clocks in just under three hours, according to Google Maps. Of course, that doesn’t factor in the massive amounts of traffic one could hypothetically face between the two destinations. Hours-long commute times aren’t unheard of, but chances are Leonard would live somewhere closer to Playa Vista if he becomes a Clipper.
Second, Leonard is from Southern California originally and went to San Diego State, so perhaps this is just where he’ll be in the offseason, as Leitereg implied.
Leonard, who is averaging 27.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals for the 36-14 Raps, will be an excellent addition for whichever team he plays for next season.
And the Clippers look like a real possibility. Aside from Bontemps’ comments from his sources, Marc Stein of the New York Times (h/t Chris Bengel of 247Sports) wrote the following remarks in a Jan. 2 newsletter:
“The Raptors, however, know that they almost certainly have to win it all to convince Leonard to spurn a return to his native Southern California. It turns out that merely winning the LeBron-less East will be tougher than the Raptors ever imagined because of Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Boston and pesky Indiana.
“The Clippers’ hopes of signing Kawhi away from the Raptors, as a result, feel rather real as the calendar flips. One likewise presumes that a full Toronto teardown, headlined by a Kyle Lowry trade, would soon follow if Kawhi exits.”
For now, however, Leonard and the Raptors are neck-and-neck with the Milwaukee Bucks for the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
