Clippers reportedly parted ways with TV analyst Bruce Bowen because he was critical of Kawhi Leonard

Leonard wants to play in Los Angeles and becomes a free agent in 2019. The Clippers have max cap space to sign him.

Kawhi Leonard may be a member of the Toronto Raptors, but his desire to play in his hometown of Los Angeles hasn’t gone anywhere. The thing is, there are two teams in L.A., and one of them just made a bold move that reaffirms their interest in the league’s premier two-way forward.

That team was not the Los Angeles Lakers.

Instead, it was the Clippers that declined to renew the contract of TV analyst Bruce Bowen on Monday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Bowen was under contract with Fox Sports West, but Clippers management opted against coming together on a new deal to retain to former Spurs champion.

Why did the Clippers do this?

On June 22, Bowen appeared on Sirius XM Radio where he ripped into Leonard’s decision not to trust San Antonio’s medical staff. Leonard played in only nine games for the Spurs last season while he battled a lingering quadriceps injury. He ultimately decided to leave the team during their playoff push and spend the remainder of the season rehabbing with an independent group of doctors in New York.

“There’s nothing but excuses going on,” Bowen said. “First, it was, ‘Well I was misdiagnosed.’ Look here: You got $18 million this year, and you think that they’re trying to rush you? You didn’t play for the most part a full season this year. And you’re the go-to guy, you’re the franchise and you want to say that they didn’t have your best interest at heart? Are you kidding me?”

“I think he’s getting bad advice,” he continued. “I think what you’re starting to see now is an individual given a certain amount of advice, and it’s not the right advice. Here it is: You were protected in San Antonio. You were able to come up during a time where you still could lean on Tim [Duncan] Tony [Parker] and Manu [Ginobili].”

“Not one time has Kawhi come out and said anything to the effect of, ‘You know what, hey, I really enjoy being in San Antonio.’ Or, ‘I can’t stand what’s going on here in San Antonio.’ Not one time has he said anything.”

“As a player, if I’m a leader of a team, my team goes on the road in the playoffs, I’m with my guys,” he said. “Because that’s what it’s all about. It’s about camaraderie. It’s about fellowship. It’s a brotherhood. When that didn’t happen, it’s all kinds of sirens and alarm signals that says to me, ‘Is this person fully vested?’ ... I don’t want to take on a player who’s not willing to support his guys during the course of their time needing him.”

If you were in charge of a team in pursuit of the player Bowen bashed on the radio, you’d be in a pretty compromising position, too.

Can the Clippers actually sign Kawhi Leonard?

Yes, and then some.

If the Clippers renounce all of their free agents, they’ll only have $60 million in guaranteed contracts for next season: Danilo Gallinari, Avery Bradley, Lou Williams, Marcin Gortat, Sindarius Thornwell, Jawun Evans and rookies Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson.

The NBA salary cap is projected to increase to $108 million next season, and Leonard is eligible for a four-year supermax contract worth up to 35 percent of the cap with five percent raises, or a four-year, $139.3 million contract. Several other teams, including the Lakers, Knicks and Nets, will have the space to sign Leonard, and only the Clippers and Lakers are located in his hometown.

There have been conflicting reports, though, of whether Leonard wants to play with LeBron James. The Clippers don’t have that problem, and they offer Doc Rivers as a head coach with championship pedigree.

Then again, Leonard could end up being swayed by the Raptors to stay in Toronto, just like Paul George was convinced by the Thunder to stay in Oklahoma City. We won’t know what happens until July of next year.

But it’ll be fun to watch as the bidding war begins.