RealGM

1. Will Kawhi Leonard be eligible for max contract with the "Derrick Rose" clause ?
He has been named to All-Defensive team already. If he can make it to an All-NBA or All-defensive team this season, will he be eligible for the 5th year 30% max contract a.k.a "Derrick Rose" clause ?

2. The Spurs philosophy in recent years has not included long-term max contracts (I believe the last one was Timmy's back from 2003.) I expect the Spurs to negotiate Kawhi to re-sign less than max money, just like the others. He is a potential future MVP contender in the Spurs system, which he will not be on any other team.

Don't get me wrong because I absolutely love Leonard, but he will never, ever win an NBA MVP. He doesn't have the selfish mentality of an MVP candidate for one thing. He doesn't score enough is another.

As far as his contract goes, I'm sure the Spurs will do whatever it takes to keep him around. They have already said as much.

Young players are paid based on potential. Kawhi will also be a FA. If he was a FA this summer, I think he'll have no shortage of suitors giving him a max deal. But since it's next year, a lot will depend on what kind of leap he takes this year.

He doesn't have to put up superstar numbers. If he's able to raise his averages and get into the allstar team, the season will be viewed as an improvement. For young players, that's all you want. If Kawhi keeps making improvements, he'll get his max contract.

I think Spurs pay him the max. Manu and Parker took less in their primes to stay together. Kawhi doesn't really have that incentive. Who is he taking less to play with? And I think his max contract starts at 14 mil a year, which is still reasonable compared to the 2nd max contract of older guys that starts at 19 mil and such. Also the Spurs paid Duncan the max in his prime years. So it's not like the Spurs never ever pay guys the max. Pop already annoints him as the face of the franchise. It's only right to pay him like one if he manage to make the allstar team next year.

So.. a lot of will depend on the leap he makes this year. I think he will get 12 million at the very least.

I think he gets the max or something close to it (a little discount, let's say 5m below considering the entire contract).

I agree with co_laper. I don't think it's a huge problem to give Kawhi the max coming off his rookie contract. Something around 15m/year won't kill the franchise. That's why so many young players that are not franchise players get the max (Gordon, Lopez, Parsons, just to give a few examples).

The biggest problem in my opinion is the 2nd max contract. To give a 2nd max contract, you have to be freaking sure that the player is a franchise player. That's the contract that usually kill a franchise.

I am not even worried about Kawhi's contract. He will stay no matter what.