Trading Kawhi Leonard did more than remove the Clippers’ best player. It eliminated their last convincing claim to having a franchise centerpiece.
That loss feels especially severe after the NBA punished the Clippers’ salary-cap violations with a $30 million fine, leadership suspensions and the forfeiture of five first-round picks.
While Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and Toronto’s draft compensation provide talent and flexibility, they do not immediately answer the more existential question confronting the organization: Who gives Clippers fans hope that this team is not doomed to wander the wilderness for the foreseeable future?
The face of a franchise does not necessarily have to be its leading scorer. In this moment, the Clippers need somebody who creates stability, supplies an identity and makes the NBA’s punishment feel like a setback instead of the beginning of a lost decade.
The next centerpiece should also represent a feel-good cleansing. After years spent chasing instant credibility through famous names carrying injury baggage or complicated reputations, the Clippers need somebody fans can embrace without reservation—not another tainted star acquired as an expensive shortcut.
The front-runners: Darius Garland and Brandon Ingram
Garland presents the strongest case.
The 26-year-old is a two-time All-Star under contract through 2027-28. After arriving in the James Harden trade, Garland averaged 19.9 points and 6.4 assists while shooting 43.8 percent from 3-point range across 19 games with Los Angeles.
As the point guard, he can supply something the Clippers desperately need: order. Garland will initiate the offense, determine its pace and touch the ball often enough to establish a recognizable identity. His age and contract also fit the near-term window.
The limitations are equally clear. Injuries restricted Garland to 45 games last season, his size creates defensive problems and he has never established himself as the best player on a contender. He may become the Clippers’ stabilizer without becoming their defining star.
Ingram, meanwhile, brings greater immediate scoring credibility. The former All-Star averaged 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists across 77 games last season, and his status as the principal veteran in the Leonard trade package naturally places him near the center of the new roster.
But Ingram is 29 and holds a player option for 2027-28 under his three-year, $120 million contract. He can lead the Clippers in scoring without representing their longer-term destination.
The upside candidates: Keaton Wagler and Gradey Dick
Wagler is the roster’s most compelling source of genuine hope.
The Clippers selected the 19-year-old guard fifth overall after he averaged 17.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists while helping Illinois reach the Final Four. His rise from lightly recruited prospect to one of the 2026 draft’s breakout stars provides the kind of developmental story a wounded fan base can embrace.
Of the four candidates, Wagler best fits the emotional requirements of a fresh beginning. He is also furthest from satisfying the basketball requirements. A promising Summer League cannot establish that a teenager who has never played a regular-season minute is prepared to rescue an NBA franchise.
Dick is an even longer shot. The 22-year-old former lottery pick possesses useful size and shooting ability, but his production fell from 14.4 points per game in 2024-25 to 6.0 last season. At this stage, he is a reclamation project rather than a building block.
The hard truth: Nobody
The Clippers currently have credible players, but nobody who combines proven production, upward trajectory and organizational staying power. Anyone of them could emerge, but none have the track record thus far.
That uncertainty could become its own temptation. Los Angeles could eventually package some combination of its young players, movable veteran contracts and newly acquired draft capital to pursue the next available superstar.
Landing the right one could accelerate the recovery. Reflexively chasing another famous name, however, could crater what should be a a full-scale exorcism of the franchise’s recent past.
The objective should not be to avoid stars. It should be to stop treating star power as a substitute for identity and sustainable growth. Turning every hopeful new piece into another aging, injury-prone or reputationally compromised headliner would merely restart the same cycle beneath a different billboard.
Garland and Ingram can make the Clippers functional. Wagler and Dick can make them interesting. None has yet demonstrated the ability to restore everything Leonard’s exit and the NBA sanctions stripped away.
For now, the Clippers have several faces of their transition. The face of their future still must emerge.
