It’s been almost three months now since the initial reporting of Kawhi Leonard’s trade back to the Toronto Raptors from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick, two first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a pick swap in 2027 and two second-round picks in 2030 and 2033.
That was the original agreement way back on July 9th of this offseason, and the trade has been pending ever since due to Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and his attempt to escape the cap rules set in stone by the NBA. Last night, NBA commissioner Adam Silver hit the Clippers and their owner hard in their attempts at cheating with a hefty $30 million fine to Ballmer and stripping them of five first-round picks.
The first-round picks are very important to this deal, as the initial trade had a pick-swap option in favour of the Clippers, which could be a reason why the trade still hasn’t gone through officially, although Leonard released a statement in which it looks like the trade is all good to go.
It was quite shocking to see how the Clippers got punished hard, but Kawhi pretty much went untouched in all of this and only picked up a small $700,000 fine. Now that everything is clear lets get down to the real question: is Leonard worth all this headache?
The short answer is an obvious yes. The Raptors finally returned to the postseason last year after a 3-year hiatus, with Brandon Ingram operating as their number one option. Unfortunately, Ingram didn’t play his best basketball in the playoffs, but he still had some moments, especially in the game four win at home, even if his efficiency wasn’t that great. Finally, when it seemed like he picked up momentum, Ingram picked up an injury early on in a close game five loss on the road and appears to have played his last minutes as a Toronto Raptor in that loss.
Now that Kawhi is back, or should be back, Toronto has a superstar number one option back at their disposal who is coming off one of the best regular seasons of his long 14-year career, putting up a very impressive 27.9 points per game on 50/38/89 shooting splits (field goal percentage, three-point percentage and free-throw percentage). The most impressive part might have been the 65 games played (fifth-most games played in the regular season in his career), though with Kawhi it’s never a question of talent but availability.
On the other side of the ball, Kawhi is also an unbelievable defender, which is another huge part of his game. Toronto’s identity was to turn teams over last season with their tenacious defence and run the floor, which was a huge part of their success last season, and Kawhi averaged 1.9 steals per game and actually averages a very impressive 1.7 for his career. His defence and switchability will help strengthen Toronto’s already great defence into what should be a top unit once again in the NBA.
I think this is a slam dunk move for Toronto once again. Just like in 2019, the biggest question will be: can Kawhi stay healthy? That is always a risk with injury-prone players, and we saw how big risks can pay off at the end of the 2018/19 season. If he can stay healthy, the Raptors should be an even bigger threat in the Eastern Conference this season, although the competition has gotten much tougher this season with the defending champs New York Knicks pretty much running it back, Miami Heat with their new addition of Giannis Antetokounmpo plus others, the Philadelphia 76ers and their new look squad with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown plus the return of Tyrese Haliburton could revive the Indiana Pacers after a really weak showing last season. Still, if Kawhi plays over 50 games again and is healthy for the playoffs, Toronto should give any opponent a tough matchup.
