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The Toronto Raptors went 46-36 in 2025-26, finished fifth in the Eastern Conference and took the Cleveland Cavaliers to a deciding seventh game in their opening-round playoff series. The team that ended their run did not last much longer. The New York Knicks swept those same Cavaliers in the conference finals on the way to the 2026 championship, then took down the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the Finals.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the LA Clippers had agreed to trade Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors. Los Angeles received Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick in the deal, along with a haul of future draft capital that covers Toronto’s first-round selections in 2031 and 2033 with no protections attached, second-rounders in 2030 and 2033 and a swap of first-round picks in 2027.
Charania also reported that Leonard’s camp had told teams across the league Toronto was the only place he would sign an extension. Eligible for a two-year, $123.7 million deal that would run through the 2028-29 season, Leonard is expected to work out those terms with the Raptors following the trade, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The cost was steep, and it makes it clear Toronto is all-in the same way it was in 2018. Like then, the one thing standing between the Raptors and the NBA Finals is Leonard’s health. Appearing in 65 games last season, his highest total since he logged 68 in 2023-24, Leonard put up 27.9 points per game to go with 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists last season while shooting 50.5 percent from the field, 38.7 percent from three and 89.2 percent from the free-throw line.
That production landed him on the All-NBA Second Team alongside Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell, and it earned him a seventh-place finish in MVP voting in his age-34 season.
While the Clippers went 42-40 and lost to the Golden State Warriors in the play-in, Leonard’s season was an individual success. His availability was not a problem in 2025-26, and neither was his level of play.
Raptors fans have seen what that level looks like when the games matter most. Leonard carried Toronto to its only NBA championship in 2019, winning Finals MVP while averaging 28.5 points in the series win over Golden State, and the 732 points he scored that postseason still rank third for a single playoff run behind Michael Jordan in 1992 and LeBron James in 2018.
Leonard, who turned 35 on June 29, steps into a returning core of Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl, with Ingram and Dick the rotation pieces sent out to get him.
If Leonard carries that same availability and production into the 2026-27 season, Toronto will enter the fall with a legitimate case as the biggest threat to New York and Cleveland in the East.
Continue reading...
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the LA Clippers had agreed to trade Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors. Los Angeles received Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick in the deal, along with a haul of future draft capital that covers Toronto’s first-round selections in 2031 and 2033 with no protections attached, second-rounders in 2030 and 2033 and a swap of first-round picks in 2027.
Charania also reported that Leonard’s camp had told teams across the league Toronto was the only place he would sign an extension. Eligible for a two-year, $123.7 million deal that would run through the 2028-29 season, Leonard is expected to work out those terms with the Raptors following the trade, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The cost was steep, and it makes it clear Toronto is all-in the same way it was in 2018. Like then, the one thing standing between the Raptors and the NBA Finals is Leonard’s health. Appearing in 65 games last season, his highest total since he logged 68 in 2023-24, Leonard put up 27.9 points per game to go with 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists last season while shooting 50.5 percent from the field, 38.7 percent from three and 89.2 percent from the free-throw line.
That production landed him on the All-NBA Second Team alongside Jaylen Brown, Jalen Brunson, Kevin Durant and Donovan Mitchell, and it earned him a seventh-place finish in MVP voting in his age-34 season.
While the Clippers went 42-40 and lost to the Golden State Warriors in the play-in, Leonard’s season was an individual success. His availability was not a problem in 2025-26, and neither was his level of play.
Raptors fans have seen what that level looks like when the games matter most. Leonard carried Toronto to its only NBA championship in 2019, winning Finals MVP while averaging 28.5 points in the series win over Golden State, and the 732 points he scored that postseason still rank third for a single playoff run behind Michael Jordan in 1992 and LeBron James in 2018.
Leonard, who turned 35 on June 29, steps into a returning core of Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl, with Ingram and Dick the rotation pieces sent out to get him.
If Leonard carries that same availability and production into the 2026-27 season, Toronto will enter the fall with a legitimate case as the biggest threat to New York and Cleveland in the East.
Continue reading...
