Trade talks heating up around Kawhi Leonard being dealt to Mavericks

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/leonard-kawhi/d4zqZuLO/"]Leonard[/a], 34, has one year left on his current deal and is set to make $50.3 million this upcoming season before becoming an unrestricted free agent (barring any extensions). [/p][p]The [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/los-angeles-clippers/vPeTYlqm/"]Los Angeles[/a] native has spent the past seven years with the Clippers after a one-year championship run with the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/toronto-raptors/CxtbCMdU/"]Toronto Raptors[/a] during the 2018-2019 season.[/p][embed guid="0800c2a8-2f49-4d6e-80b0-a149190a1fae" url="https://x.com/TheAthletic/status/2071366221187170790?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Leonard spent the first seven years of his career with the Spurs after the team selected him 15th overall in the 2011 draft. The seven-time All-Star and seven-time All-NBA lifted them to their fifth championship when they defeated the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/miami-heat/CQ7AXnT5/"]Miami Heat[/a] in four games in 2014. [/p][p]Now, he'll be joining a [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/dallas-mavericks/YouS3mEC/"]Mavericks[/a] team that is far from being a contender. Dallas finished last season with a brutal 26-56 record, their worst since the 2017-2018 season. He'll be bringing over a career-high 27.9 points per game this past season to a Mavericks team that ranked 23rd in the same category.[/p][p]As for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/thompson-klay/pQUdN6bE/"]Thompson[/a], he'll be joining a third team in the past four years. The four-time champion with the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/golden-state-warriors/SxUtXqch/"]Golden State Warriors[/a] posted a career-low 11.7 points per game and career-worst 39.3% in 68 games. Entering this past season, Thompson had never shot below 41%. [/p][p]He'll be entering his 14th season and entering the final year of his current contract, set to make $17.4 million. The two-time All-NBA sharpshooter has seen brighter days as his career winds down as he now heads to the west coast and joins a Clippers team that missed the playoffs for just the second time in the past eight years.[/p]