Toronto Raptors star Kawhi Leonard has agreed to a two-year contract extension and $115 million with the franchise, his agent Harrison Gaines, of SLASH Sports, told ESPN.
The new deal includes a player option for the 2028-29 season, so Leonard is now committed to three years and $165 million with Toronto. The 35-year-old basketball player also expressed his intention to end his career with the Raptors.
Negotiations between Leonard and the Raptors have been active since July and ended with an agreement that also envisages favorable economic adjustments for the franchise.
The two-time NBA Finals MVP accepted $11 million less than the maximum he could receive through the extension and renounced a $7.45 million bonus related to his transfer from the Los Angeles Clippers.
The decision was linked to the need for Toronto to maintain greater flexibility over the growth of its salary budget.
Just in: Toronto Raptors All-NBA star Kawhi Leonard has agreed on a two-year, $115 million contract extension with the franchise, plus a player option for the 2028-29 season, his agent Harrison Gaines of SLASH Sports tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/naqrW8jBV3
Leonard's return to the Raptors came on June 30, when Toronto and the Clippers agreed to an exchange involving Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two first-round unprotected teams, an exchange of first-round teams and two second-round teams.
However, the transaction was temporarily suspended after the NBA notified Toronto that the franchise could be responsible for any sanctions related to the investigation into allegations of the Clippers' salary limit circumvention.
The situation was defined earlier this month, when the NBA sanctioned the Clippers with the loss of five future first-round teams, a $30 million fine and the one-year suspension of owner Steve Ballmer.
The sanctions were the result of a year-long investigation that, according to the league, “found a pattern of misconduct and multiple significant violations of the rules by the Clippers organization, which had already broken the salary ceiling rules.”
As part of the case related to Kawhi Leonard, the player paid $700,000 in terms of compensation for undue profits provided by the franchise to his uncle and former commercial representative, Dennis Robertson.
Leonard fired Robertson and agent Mitch Frankel in June, and weeks later he hired Harrison Gaines as his new representative.
The NBA also prohibited Robertson from participating in any commercial activity related to the league.
The new extension comes after a season in which Kawhi Leonard recorded the highest scoring average of his career.
He averaged 27.9 points per game with the Clippers in 65 matches, before returning to the franchise with which he won the NBA championship in 2019.
Leonard was the big figure of that campaign and led the Raptors to their first NBA title in the history of the organization.
Thro his career, Leonard has made seven All-Star teams, seven NBA appearances, two NBA championships and two NBA Finals MVP awards, won in 2014 with San Antonio and in 2019 with Toronto.
His new contract again puts the player at the center of the Raptors project and extends his bond with the franchise until at least 2029 if he exercises the option included in the agreement.
