Kawhi Leonard turned 35 years old on Monday. Leonard was born in 1991, the year of the Metal Goat, and one of its characteristics in the Chinese Zodiac is loyalty, to the point of keeping small circles.On the eve of NBA free agency, there’s a source of potential conflict. How strong is the bond between Leonard, a veteran star entering the final year of his contract, and an LA Clippers team situated in the middle of the Western Conference?Clippers basketball president Lawrence Frank posed a rhetorical question last week while discussing the selection of 19-year-old point guard Keaton Wagler: “How are we going to get our group from competitive back to contention? And just making sure every step we take is directly aligned to that.”Frank elaborated a bit more later as it related to Leonard, saying, “Plan still is to win with Kawhi.”There was a but coming, right?“But the bigger plan is — we understand we’re not a contender. We’re competitive. How are we going to get back to contention?”Can Keaton Wagler coexist with Darius Garland with Los Angeles ClippersZach Harper and CJ MooreIt was the widest use of the word competitive maybe since the Indeed commercial was out. This self-awareness on the part of the Clippers has tended to be a sticking point in certain negotiations. This is the same organization that let Leonard’s 213 co-star Paul George walk two years ago, with the ink on the extension Leonard signed five months earlier barely dry. That turned out to be a good decision, mostly because the Clippers had a plan and the personnel in place to execute it, even with Leonard dealing with a postseason injury for the fourth year in a row.Frank foreshadowed after the February trade deadline that the Clippers could revisit avenues traveled in 2024. The Clippers didn’t want to trade All-NBA point guard James Harden, especially after winning 15 out of 18 games to recover from a 6-21 start and forcing Rich Homie Flom to eat a tweet. But once they traded Harden, it made sense to trade starting center Ivica Zubac for a package that ultimately included the draft pick that was used to select Wagler. Chris Paul was also traded into retirement after the worst farewell tour in league history.The Clippers had stocked their roster full of expectant veteran contributors for years. Yet at the deadline, Frank said the quiet part out loud about how the Clippers used to build the roster to kowtow to Leonard, but the time for those maneuvers was over.“There’s not much left in the piggy bank prior to this trade in terms of premium picks,” Frank said when discussing the dilemma of trading Zubac. “We’ve kind of gone all in, all in, all in. We’ve made a bunch of trades to kind of please today’s team. … OK, how are we gonna bridge this era to the next era? And with it is, guys who are part of the team now can also be part of the next era. But if everyone is part of the team, there’s a cliff. And … it could take years, years to get out of it.”The Clippers completed the regular season turnaround to get to 42-40, the franchise’s 15th consecutive winning regular season. But in the Play-In Tournament, the Clippers failed again, and Leonard requested space to grieve.“Let me cry about this loss a little bit more,” Leonard said after LA blew a double-digit fourth quarter lead at home against a 45-loss Golden State Warriors team that went on to lose in Phoenix. “We’re gonna have our discussions when that time comes.”League sources tell The Athletic that Leonard’s camp is exploring what is out there. Like in 2023, he’s extension eligible, though the Clippers did not agree to extensions with him or George then. They wound up adding Harden’s contract year shortly after the start of the 2023-24 regular season, despite the presence of Russell Westbrook as a starting point guard.Leonard signed his three-year extension later that season, but the Clippers failed to advance out of the first round twice and the Play-In that year and the next two. The only other Clipper still with the team besides Leonard from the end of the 2024 season is Jordan Miller. This whole roster has been turned over.So here the Clippers are, knowing it is less prudent to extend a 35-year-old Leonard than it was to extend a 32-year-old Leonard. It’s easy to look at the current Clippers’ roster and know they would be happy to make the 2027 playoffs and overjoyed to simply win a series.But the Clippers also don’t need to sell themselves short, either. There are some horrific trade packages out there from teams seeking to acquire Leonard for pennies on the dollar. There’s no good reason for the Clippers to pick up older players or players signed for the rest of the decade. The Toronto Raptors might be offering Brandon Ingram, which would work swimmingly for them. But Clippers coach Tyronn Lue and lead assistant Jeff Van Gundy would have to figure out how to help Ingram overcome his postseason disappearing acts, and those two coaches also had a front-row seat to Ingram underperforming during the 2023 FIBA World Cup.Brandon Ingram (3) has been rumored to be part of a possible Kawhi Leonard trade with the Raptors. (Cole Burston / Getty Images)For now, the Clippers have Garland, Wagler, and a host of other decisions to make. They exercised their team option on 38-year-old starting center Brook Lopez, a decision made to at least stabilize a position that currently has backup Isaiah Jackson and injured 2025 first-round pick Yanic Konan Niederhaüser on the depth chart. John Collins, who finished the season as a backup, is an unrestricted free agent.LA declined the options of veterans Bogdan Bogdanović and Nicolas Batum, sending both to unrestricted free agency. Miller and 2025 second-round pick Kobe Sanders also had team options declined, but the Clippers want both players, who will be restricted free agents, back on multi-year deals. Key trade acquisition Bennedict Mathurin is a restricted free agent, as well.Veteran Bradley Beal opted out of his deal, and while the Clippers retain interest, Beal must feel comfortable about his market after playing just six games before undergoing season-ending hip surgery in a completely lost year. Derrick Jones Jr. is entering the final year of his contract, and Kris Dunn is expected to have his deal guaranteed, but 2024 second-round pick Cam Christie is more uncertain.Leonard, Garland, Dunn, Lopez, Jones, Wagler, Jackson and Konan Niederhäuser take up eight out of 15 standard contract roster spots. If Leonard stays put, that means that the Clippers are content with the lowest ceiling they’ve given him. If he leaves, it will require a package that keeps the Clippers afloat while they maintain flexibility for the future.Either way, loyalty will be assessed. While Leonard has certainly earned an extension, the Clippers may choose to be more faithful to the inevitable reality of life without him.