A disgruntled Kawhi Leonard has been spending the summer avoiding the media and the public, remaining relatively quiet. However, it’s the eighth-year forward that has made the loudest noise this offseason when he asked to be traded to his hometown Los Angeles Lakers. The news blew up NBA Twitter and teams are lining up for his services. As of recent, he has even warmed up to the idea of playing for fellow LA-based team, the Clippers, while also considering joining the up-and-coming Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers’ young cores. The inevitable wait came to an end Wednesday morning, but Leonard wasn’t headed to sunny Los Angeles or even to the East Coast in Boston or Philidelphia. He’s headed to our neighbors up North, the Toronto Raptors.
While Leonard finally got out of an environment that he found detrimental to him in San Antonio, it is still reported that he doesn’t like the idea of playing in Toronto, according to Chris Haynes.
Most players would drop anything to play for a team that secured a first place spot in the Eastern Conference, a team that set a franchise record in wins and had the 2018 NBA coach of the year. But then again, not many players are like Kawhi Leonard. A man that has garnered the name “The Claw” for his elite defensive ability, and at times is impossible to get more than 10 words out of in interviews. Leonard is simply a humble kid from LA, that in an era dominated by personalities and money, just wants to hoop.
So how does the forced trade out of San Antonio mean for the rest of the league?
San Antonio Spurs
Well, it will be hard to recover from losing a top three player in the league when healthy, but if anyone can recover its Popovich. The former 3-time coach of the year has run the Spurs with a consistent level of success and a handful of players in different parts of their careers. However, this is the first time a player has truly forced themselves out of San Antonio, outside of LaMarcus Aldridge’s request last year that was later retracted.
When analyzing the return, the initial thought is the Spurs could have done better, but with teams like the Lakers and Celtics low-balling, the options weren’t appealing. But they get a solid option in Demar DeRozan that led the Raptors in scoring last season at 23.0 PPG, the third highest mark of his career. He also had the highest offensive rating of his career at 114 per 100 possessions and 9.6 wins shared, which falls just short of his 9.9 wins shared two years ago. The team lost Danny Green in the trade as well as Tony Parker to the Hornets so DeRozan will have free range to take over the offense and potentially set career highs in multiple categories. The only red flag is his rather large contract, but the Spurs can rest assure they have a star player to build their young core around. The trade also netted them Jakob Poeltl, a young big man that lost minutes in the Raptors crowded frontcourt but can help an aging group in Texas, as well as picks to keep building the team.
The Spurs did at least gain something in a relationship that was at its end and avoided a complete loss in next years free agency.
Toronto Raptors
The Raptors didn’t have to think twice about adding an All-NBA level talent to their already solid core, even if it meant losing the cities beloved star DeRozan. Although Leonard missed all but nine games for the Spurs last year due to injury, the consensus around the league is he can return to his playing ability. Toronto reached a new level last season with their play, but ultimately fell flat on their face again against a Lebron led Cavaliers team, that shouldn’t have matched up well with the Raptors. But once again Lebron has proven to be their Kryptonite. With Dwayne Casey now fired and replaced by Nick Nurse, and Lebron now out west in LA, this was the Raptors time to improve and keep up with Philly and Boston.
It may be a hard pitch to get Kawhi to re-sign next summer, especially after he made his LA demands be known this offseason. But the Raptors hope to make a pitch like the Thunder did with their Paul George experiment. If he leaves though, they do take a step in the direction of clearing cap space, which they haven’t been able to do since locking up many of their players to over-valued contracts. But if all goes well, and the Raptors replicate their success along with a real shot at a championship, the all-star may consider the growing market in Toronto.
If the Raptors become skeptical at the trade deadline that thy can re-sign Leonard, they can always revisit the Lakers and Clippers for a trade. Masai Ujiri is a smart GM, and the former GM of the year will make the most of this move. This will sell tickets and potentially take the team to new heights
Let’s hope he has a good winter jacket though, and maybe he is a Drake fan? Maybe it’s “Gods Plan.”
Los Angeles Lakers
How could you not expect to see a Lakers column in a post about the LA native, especially with King James in town now? The purple and gold are once again an attractive free agent team with the worlds best player to go along with 16 NBA titles. We are in an era where super teams control the NBA, and the only things that can stop it are the salary cap or an NBA 2K redraft.
Leonard let it be known early he wanted to suit up for the Lakers and stood by that still after Lebron’s arrival in LA. They knew they had the leverage in the trade talks and after they knew they could sign the future free agent next season, they backed off to keep their young core. This gives them a solid team to build around James, and entice Leonard. Jordan had his Pippen, an elite defender for his time that could guard all five positions and play like an all-star, so why can’t Leonard be Lebron’s Pippen and cement both players legacy.
I believe this is the most likely scenario to happen next offseason, as Magic Johnson will continue to promise on his two-year plan to make the Lakers contenders again. This move will vault them into the Warriors and Rockets discussion, and title contenders.
Kawhi Leonard
At the end of the day, this trade is about Kawhi, and how it impacts him is the most important part. After a year of negative comments and criticism from the Spurs organization about Leonard, he finally finds himself in a new environment. He finds himself on a solid team that is in a better place than his previous employer.
The Raptors have a full year to pull out all the stops for Leonard to entice him to re-sign, but then again the team hasn’t made a free-agent splash since Bismack Biyombo, which turned into more of a bust. But like I previously stated, Kawhi is a different player and he may buy into the Toronto atmosphere instead of the bright lights of LA or other cities. At the end of the day, I believe he is looking for championships and the ability to build his legacy.
This trade will provide Leonard the opportunity to play for an organization that many of the players have enjoyed. It allows him to play for a coach, that is considered a players guy. It allows him to keep working at his craft, and hopefully recovering from an injury, and once again reach his top five player status.
This is another reason why the NBA dominates the offseason, with player movement.
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