BOOOOOM. THERE GOES THE DYNAMITE. After weeks of waiting, speculation and enough uncertainty to drive Raptors fans crazy, Kawhi Leonard is finally coming back to Toronto. The man who delivered the franchise’s only championship is heading back to the city where he became a legend.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Monday, the Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers have agreed to complete a trade that will send Leonard back to Toronto in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, a first-round pick swap and two second-round picks.
That’s a lot to give up. There’s no reason to dress it up or pretend otherwise. Toronto just surrendered a significant chunk of its future to bring back a 35-year-old superstar with an extensive injury history. However, when you look at where this Raptors team is right now, the move makes a lot more sense.
Toronto isn’t trying to figure out what it has anymore. The Raptors already know what this group can be. They won 46 games last season, grabbed the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference and took the Cavaliers to a deciding Game 7. Scottie Barnes has become the centrepiece of the franchise, Collin Murray-Boyles looks like another major piece for the future, and RJ Barrett has shown he can be far more than a complementary scorer.
The foundation is there. What Toronto didn’t have was another player who can change the equation when the games get bigger, and the margin for error gets smaller. Now they do.
Leonard brings something almost impossible to acquire through the draft: a player who has already been through the fire and knows what it takes to come out the other side.
Of course, questions surround Leonard. Anyone pretending otherwise is ignoring the obvious. He’s 35, his body has been through plenty, and Toronto is putting a significant amount of its future in the hands of a player whose availability has been an issue throughout his career. But there is an important distinction here.
The Raptors aren’t trading for the memory of Kawhi Leonard. They’re trading for the player he was last season. Leonard finished seventh in MVP voting and earned an All-NBA selection. He showed that, when healthy, he can still operate at a level very few players in the league can reach.
The Raptors are getting another elite option when a playoff series gets tight. They needed someone who can create a shot when the offence breaks down. Someone who can defend the opposing team’s best player. Someone who has already played in the biggest games basketball has to offer. That’s Kawhi. Put him beside Barnes and the ceiling of this team immediately changes.
The draft picks are obviously going to be the easiest part of this trade to criticize. Two unprotected first-rounders, a swap and two second-rounders could turn into something painful for Toronto down the road. Nobody knows what those selections will become, and that’s exactly why giving them up carries so much weight.
But look around the league. Teams are paying enormous prices for established players. Desmond Bane brought Memphis four first-round picks when he was sent to the Orlando Magic. The New York Knicks gave up five first-round picks to acquire Mikal Bridges. Walker Kessler also brought the Utah Jazz a significant return despite still having plenty to prove as an NBA player.
The players involved in those trades differ significantly from Leonard. Kawhi isn’t an intriguing young player who might eventually become a star. He has already been one. He’s won two championships, two Finals MVPs and just came off another All-NBA season. The Raptors know exactly what they’re buying.
Raptors fans should be a little more comfortable with this kind of risk than most. Toronto has done this before. After the 2018 season, the Raptors moved DeMar DeRozan in a deal for Leonard. DeRozan was one of the most important players in franchise history and one of the most beloved athletes the city had ever had.
It was an incredibly uncomfortable decision. There was also no guarantee Leonard would stick around. Toronto made the move anyway. A year later, the Raptors were NBA champions. Obviously, that doesn’t mean this trade will produce the same result. Leonard isn’t walking into the same roster he did in 2018, and there is no guarantee this group gets anywhere near a championship parade.
However, the lesson from that trade remains. At some point, a team has to decide whether it wants to protect what it has or find out how good it can actually be. Toronto has spent the last few seasons rebuilding its roster and collecting young talent. That work has put the Raptors in a position where playing it safe doesn’t make much sense anymore.
They have their cornerstone. They have young players around him. Now they have a proven superstar. That’s worth taking a swing at.
After the punishment was handed down to the Los Angeles Clippers, fans still had to wait for the Leonard trade to go through officially. That led to plenty of speculation that Toronto might not be satisfied with the original agreement.
The theory was that the Raptors could use the Clippers’ situation to their advantage and go back to the negotiating table. Maybe they could squeeze another draft pick out of Los Angeles. Maybe they could alter the protections. Maybe they could find some other way to improve the return. It wasn’t an unreasonable theory. Toronto did the right thing by sticking with the agreement.
Once both sides have settled on a deal, there is more at stake than simply trying to squeeze one more asset out of the other team. NBA front offices rely heavily on relationships, and Bobby Webster has spent years building those relationships throughout the league. Going back after the fact and demanding more could have changed the entire dynamic between the two organizations and potentially put the trade itself in jeopardy.
The Raptors agreed to the price because they wanted the player. They got the player. Now it’s time to see what they can do with him. And that’s ultimately what this entire trade comes down to.