INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Clippers are committed to a future with Kawhi Leonard as they transition from being the oldest team in the NBA to a younger one.
"Our plan is to win with Kawhi,” Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations, said Friday. “At the appropriate time, we'll sit down with Kawhi and very similar to 2024, lay out our plan and if our goals are aligned, then we'd like to win with Kawhi.”
Leonard averaged a career-high 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists while playing in 65 games this season. He turns 35 in June and will enter the final year of a $149.5 million, three-year contract extension that he signed in 2024.
The Clippers would owe him $50.3 million next season, and they can extend his contract for two more seasons after the NBA Finals in June.
After a 6-21 start, the Clippers finished with a winning record (42-40) for the 15th consecutive season. They blew a 13-point lead at home in the final 10 minutes and lost 126-121 to Golden State in a play-in tournament game that ended their season.
Asked about his future Wednesday, Leonard said, “Let me cry about this loss a little bit more. We’ll have our discussions when that time comes.”
Leonard is missing the playoffs for the first time in his career when healthy. In his seven seasons with the Clippers, they reached the Western Conference finals in 2021 and lost in the first round the three previous years.
Also looming over the organization is the NBA's ongoing investigation involving Leonard's endorsement deal with a now-bankrupt former team sponsor, Aspiration. An outside law firm is looking into whether the deal was a way for the Clippers to circumvent the league's salary cap.
“I think that we're going to be in the clear,” Leonard said Wednesday, “so I'm not stressing it.”
Frank said the investigation, which began in September, had no effect on the season.
“If you know (owner) Steve (Ballmer) and know Steve’s integrity, you know there’s nothing to it,” he said. “We believe and we've very confident we’re on the right side of this.”
Even at the team's lowest point, Frank said, there was never any consideration given to firing coach Tyronn Lue.
“I thought Ty and the staff did an unbelievable job,” he said.
Frank met Thursday with the players and basketball operations team to share his viewpoint on the season. It'll be another week or so before the team holds individual exit interviews.
“We’re in this bridge period from competitive to get to contender,” Frank said. “We do have great hope and optimism with our future. We’ve put ourselves in a very good position with emerging young players, draft capital and cap space going forward.”
The team's young returning corps includes Darius Garland, Derrick Jones Jr., Isaiah Jackson and Yanic Konan Niederhauser.
Veteran John Collins is an unrestricted free agent, while Bennedict Mathurin is a restricted free agent. The Clippers hold team options on Kris Dunn, Nicolas Batum, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Brook Lopez, Jordan Miller and Kobe Sanders.
“With any roster move,” Frank said, "how does it help us get closer to contention?”
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Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue gestures during the second half of an NBA play-in tournament basketball game against the Golden State Warriors, Wednesday, April 15, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard warms up before an NBA basketball game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Friday, April 10, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The drones that targeted the United Arab Emirates’ Barakah nuclear power plant all came from Iraq, the country’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday, likely signaling that Iranian-backed Shiite militias launched the assault.
Such militias launched repeated drone attacks targeting Gulf Arab states after Israel and the United States began their war against Iran back on Feb. 28. Militias in the past have provided Iran a means by which to deflect blame over such attacks.
There were no reported injuries or radiological release at Barakah after the attack, which Emirati officials said hit a generator on the facility's perimeter.
The UAE, which has hosted air defenses and personnel from Israel, recently accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks even after its ceasefire with the U.S. began April 8.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he's willing to give Iran a few days to make progress in peace negotiations before the United States resumes military strikes. Trump said Monday he was pulling back from plans to launch strikes Tuesday. He has repeatedly set deadlines for Tehran and then backed off.
Tensions have risen over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy waterway gripped by Iran while its ports remain under a U.S. naval blockade. A maritime data firm reported Tuesday that ship traffic through the strait more than doubled last week, but still remains a fraction of its pre-war levels.
Trump told reporters at the White House he “was an hour away from making the decision” to launch a new round of strikes and end the fragile ceasefire before he called off the attack Monday.
Trump didn’t set a firm deadline for Iran on Tuesday, at first saying he was giving Tehran “two or three days.” He then said Iran could have until “maybe early next week.”
Trump on Monday announced he was holding off on military strikes planned for Tuesday because “serious negotiations” were underway to end the war.
Key sticking points include the United States' insistence that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping.
There's also broad disagreement over Iran's nuclear program. Trump has said he wants to remove highly enriched uranium from the Iran and prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the UAE nuclear plant, though Iran and its proxies had been suspected.
Iraqi government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi, without addressing the Emirati Defense Ministry's report, issued a statement saying that Baghdad "expresses its strong condemnation of the recent drone attacks targeting the UAE."
“We also emphasize the importance of effective regional and international cooperation to prevent any escalation or harm to the stability of the region, or any targeting of the security and sovereignty of sisterly and friendly nations,” al-Awadi added.
There were three other drones that targeted the country over the last two days, the Emirati Defense Ministry added, without elaborating on their targets. Saudi Arabia, which had also condemned the nuclear plant attack, later said it had intercepted three drones that entered from Iraqi airspace.
The $20 billion Barakah nuclear power plant was built by the UAE with the help of South Korea and went online in 2020. It is the only nuclear power plant in the Arab world and can provide a quarter of the energy needs in the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms that is home to Dubai.
Earlier Tuesday, a prominent Emirati diplomat elliptically criticized regional countries over the attacks the country has faced.
“The confusion of roles during this treacherous Iranian aggression is baffling, encompassing the Gulf Arab region’s surrounding states,” Anwer Gargash wrote on X. “The victim’s role has merged with that of the mediator, and vice versa, while the friend has turned into a mediator instead of being a steadfast ally and supporter.”
According to the Lloyd’s List Intelligence maritime data firm, a total of 54 ships transited the strait the week of May 11, more than double the 25 vessels counted the week before.
Traffic through the strait remains a trickle compared to before the war, when 130 or more vessels passed it each day.
Last week's traffic included 10 China-owned ships after Tehran said it would permit some Chinese vessels to transit, Lloyd’s said Tuesday on X. Two were carrying cooking gas headed for India.
Iran has imposed a murky vetting scheme for vessels trying to leave the Persian Gulf, which in some cases has included demanding payment and excludes US and Israeli vessels.
Iran depends on China as the sole remaining major customer for its heavily sanctioned oil. India is suffering a politically sensitive shortage of cooking gas supplies and has secured passage for some of its ships through diplomatic intervention with Iran.
Price reported from Washington. AP journalists David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed.
FILE - This undated photograph released by the United Arab Emirates' state-run WAM news agency shows the under-construction Barakah nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi's Western desert. (Arun Girija/Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation/WAM via AP, File)
