If the Spurs offer Kawhi Leonard a supermax contract extension, what are his options?

The San Antonio Spurs and Kawhi Leonard are in an awkward place.

After talking LaMarcus Aldridge off the ledge and folding him back in as a focal point of the offense, San Antonio’s relationship with Leonard fell right off the rails. His quad injury limited him to only nine games in the entire 2017-18 season, and even though he was cleared by the team doctors, he didn’t feel he was 100 percent and hired an independent set of doctors in New York that never gave him the OK.

Now, Leonard is entering what could be the final year of his five-year, $94 million contract, and his future in San Antonio is as uncertain as Bitcoin’s four-hour trading chart. He has one more guaranteed year with the Spurs before he can exercise the player option on his contract and become a free agent in 2019, and so do the Spurs. Let’s evaluate all of them:

The Spurs are hoping to offer Leonard a five-year, $219 million contract extension, according to the San Antonio Express News. Whether he takes it is a different question.

There is reason for optimism. It felt like Aldridge’s time in San Antonio was done after a rough second-round playoff exit last season. He didn’t feel like he was being used correctly in the Spurs’ offense, and after a sit-down with Gregg Popovic, the issue was resolved. It was a wake-up call for Pop, but the reconciliation paved the way for Aldridge’s best season as a Spur.

Leonard’s scenario is different from Aldridge’s, and a few fences will need to be mended, if not bulldozed and re-built from scratch, but it’s clear there is precedent with Pop smoothing over relationships with his stars. After all, the trajectory of Leonard’s career could have been totally different had San Antonio not traded George Hill to Indiana for the 2011 NBA Draft pick they used on Leonard. And while he still would have been a solid two-way player on any other team, it’s hard to envision Leonard becomes a Finals MVP and one of the best players in the NBA as a member of any other franchise.

Returning to San Antonio would be the most lucrative move Leonard could make, at least on the court. Only the Spurs can offer Leonard the designated veteran extension this summer of 35 percent of the cap, projected at around $101 million. Leonard has been an All-NBA team member in two of the past three years and has only played for the Spurs in his career, making him eligible for a supermax payday.

The Spurs can offer him that contract any time after July 1, and he can’t get that deal with any other team, no matter if he’s traded or decides to sign elsewhere in free agency.

Not gonna go in-depth here because it wouldn’t make any damn sense for San Antonio to do this. If you’re going to trade someone, you don’t invest $200 million in them before you do it.

Maybe it’s a parting gift? Leonard says he wants to leave San Antonio, but he wants that contract and is crying about it to Pop and R.C. Buford, who pull out their good samaritan hats and NOOOO, IT’S NOT HAPPENING. Next.

Also, this can’t happen for a year due to NBA rules.

This is the worst-case scenario for San Antonio. No team wants to remain in limbo while its star decides his future, a future that has a 50 percent chance of leaving the franchise in the dust. Indiana traded Paul George for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis the summer before George’s pending unrestricted free agency. Now, George could leave OKC and dish the Thunder the blow the Pacers were deft enough to avoid in the first place, while the Pacers are building a bright future around Oladipo and Sabonis.

San Antonio doesn’t want to be in OKC’s shoes. Should Leonard reject the supermax extension, it’d much prefer to be in Indiana’s. It doesn’t want Leonard to hold all the power next season before leaving them high and dry — or maybe staying put — when his first possible unrestricted free agency hits in 2019.

Consider this: Leonard is a bona fide star, and San Antonio is not the biggest market for a superstar basketball player. What The Claw loses by not signing a supermax deal — call it roughly $50 million over the duration of the contract — he could make up in excess with sponsorship and endorsement deals. Maybe he’ll be more likely to receive a more lucrative signature shoe contract from Jordan Brand if he’s in a bigger market.

Leonard is from LA, and home is where the heart is. And if it’s not, he could always decide to sign the supermax next summer, too, assuming he makes an All-NBA team.

They don’t want to trade their star forward, but if he backs them into a corner, they might not have a choice.

The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor cited several NBA executives who believe the Spurs would need “a grand slam offer” to part ways with the league’s premier two-way wing. It cost the Celtics Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, the 2018 Brooklyn Nets first-round pick, and a future second-round pick to pry Kyrie Irving from Cleveland, and that trade looks more and more like a steal every day.

The Spurs aren’t going to trade Leonard for nothing, but they won’t want him to walk away for nothing either. This is the worst possible scenario for San Antonio.

Leonard should do what he has been doing and get his health to 100 percent. He can’t make any decisions if he can’t play, and in a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately league like the NBA, Leonard has been forgotten with the surge of burgeoning, young wings across the country.

It would only take a few preseason games and a string of consistent regular season games to remind the NBA that he’s one of, if not the best two-way wings in the NBA. This is a player who was the difference, after all, in that Western Conference Finals matchup against the Warriors last year. San Antonio was up by 20-plus points in Game 1 before his injury. After he left, Golden State came back, stole the victory then swept the Spurs.

The Warriors are still Goliath in the NBA, and the Rockets posted the best record in the NBA. The Jazz are coming, and so are the Pelicans. The Trail Blazers, Thunder, Nuggets, and Timberwolves will all be in the mix. If Leonard returns for good, what will the Spurs do to improve their roster in an ever-improving Western Conference?

That’s the other thing he should be focused on. His return to the lineup automatically propels San Antonio to the top echelon of Western Conference teams, but the Spurs could benefit from improved guard play. The Spurs also made the third-fewest threes per game (8.8) last season. In a league that is becoming more and more trey-crazed every season, they’ll need to keep up.

But if Leonard truly wants out of San Antonio, he should do so in a manner similar to George’s Indiana exodus. PG13 gave Pacers management a heads-up that he didn’t want to re-sign after his contract was up, though you could argue with how clear he made that statement over time. Regardless, that tip jumpstarted Indy’s rebuild.

Leonard should extend that same common courtesy to San Antonio if he really wants out.

Popovich is among the greatest coaches of all-time, and there’s no doubt he’d keep the Spurs relevant no matter who’s on his roster. But losing Leonard — particularly for nothing — would send San Antonio reeling. It should do everything in its power to make him happy and keep him in town.

Offering the supermax shouldn’t even be a question, more-so a formality. Whatever Leonard wants financially, he should get offered, even if he wants out.

If Leonard does not accept, the ideal ishe informs the Spurs well before next season’s trade deadline that he plans to opt out. That would give Pop and Buford enough time to scramble on the fly and get something in return.

Regardless, the Spurs probably won’t get in return what they give away in Leonard. They have to play this one by ear. Their first choice should be to keep him, and it sounds like it is.