Here’s How Raptors Could Be Big Winners in Clippers/Kawhi Leonard NBA Punishment

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With all the doom and gloom about the future of the stalled Kawhi Leonard trade back to the Toronto Raptors, a scenario has been presented that would see the Raps actually benefiting from the whole kerfuffle.

The June 30 blockbuster deal that was supposed to send Kawhi back to the team with which he won his last NBA championship is on hold. Both the Raptors and the LA Clippers are awaiting the results of the long, drawn-out investigation into the alleged cap circumvention scandal surrounding the Clippers, owner Steve Ballmer and Leonard.

There have been all sorts of scenarios floated that could put the kibosh on Kawhi’s return to Toronto. A full-year suspension or having his contract voided are the two leading narratives that naysayers have referred to. However, local beat writer Michael Grange of Sportsnet says that all the clues suggest that Kawhi will wind up with the Raptors when all is said and done. And even more than that, he lays out a scenario where a certain line of severe punishment handed out by the NBA could actually benefit Toronto in the long run.

But first, hear him out as he tries to put Toronto fans at ease about any potential suspension of Kawhi for a huge chunk of the 2026-27 season:

A Kawhi Leonard suspension ‘almost certainly won’t come to pass’: Raptors insider​

The… commonly cited risk — that Leonard will face a lengthy suspension for his role in the alleged cap circumvention — is something that almost certainly won’t come to pass, a matter than has been under-reported or not reported previously.

Nowhere in (the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement) language does it say a player can be suspended for participating in cap circumvention. Instead, per the CBA, penalties for salary cap circumvention can include team fines, direct forfeiture of draft picks, the voiding of any player contract and a suspension of up to a year for any team personnel found to have engaged in such a violation, while the player can be required to “disgorge” whatever benefits they gained from a third party in a cap circumvention scheme.

A player suspension is not on the menu.

So what about that looming threat of a possible voiding of Leonard’s contract, which has just one year to run, at $50.3 million? If that were to be part of the NBA’s punishment, Kawhi would become a free agent. Grange says, as unlikely as that is, there’s a way it could actually benefit the Raptors, who are currently set to send Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick along with a host of first-round draft assets to the Clippers in the deal.

If Leonard’s contract is voided for his role (in the scandal)? The Raptors would still have Ingram, Dick and all the draft assets they sent the Clippers, and — in theory — the possibility of signing Leonard to a new contract as a free agent.

We already know that Leonard said that Toronto is the only place he was willing to sign an extension with if he was traded. And the two sides even started to set the groundwork for a two-year extension in the $120 million neighborhood. So even if his contract for the coming year is voided and he becomes an unrestricted free agent, what would stop the two sides from negotiating a deal on a contract starting in the coming season instead?

Whatever the case may be, all the pessimism in Toronto surrounding Kawhi’s future with the team has been way overblown, writes Grange.

“What exactly the NBA is going to do to resolve the entire Clippers-Leonard situation remains up in the air. But from a Raptors perspective, the most likely scenario has the 2019 Finals MVP in a Toronto uniform on opening night.”

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