Kawhi Leonard being traded to Toronto!!

[jho]

Supposedly the trade is being finalized right now. Spurs are getting back DeRozan and pieces.

What do you guys think? I think the players are not excited, but for the Spurs that return has to be a huge win.

Toronto is the team taking a huge risk because Leonard can leave for nothing the following summer. They are trying to take the Paul George approach and sell him on Toronto.

 

[PHX]

The trade is Leonard and Danny Green for Derozan, Potel and a 2019 first rounder.

I like to move for Raptors. Yes it is risky as Leonard can walk for nothing next summer. But they did get off Derozan contract. So if he walks it will be easy to rebuild. Toronto has to win East this year maybe their last chance. Philly and Boston will be too good for them in subsequent years and their kryptonite has gone west.

If I was Spurs I would have taken the Lakers deal of Ingram. Ball and two first rounder. But they obviously did not want deal Leonard to west.

 

[klada152]

smart move by Raptors they have one year of fighting for finals and they can sing and trade him after that with Lakers for Deng and Ingram or harte , kuzma ,1st something like that

 

[BiggRick33]

yeah i deffiently think the raptors got the best end of the deal here for sure

 

[silaskbca]

the best for the league's competitiveness would be lebron and leonard in spurs

 

[Synopsis]

Toronto will have to rebuild next year, and they gave away a pick? Kwahi might not even be there for the whole season, and definitely won't be this coming summer. Maybe Toronto is banking on getting some of the young laker talent and picks then, because if they are actually banking on building around kwahi, then they are going to be let down in the not so distant future.

 

[Synopsis]

Furthermore, I think this is a huge loss on Toronto even outside of what I said above. How many people do you think will want to go play in Toronto after they snaked arguably the biggest face of their franchise in history, after telling him he is secure? I wouldn't want to go there, they might be able to get a guy here or there by throwing big cash at them, but they won't be there for the love of game, or a passion to win, which is what makes good players great. They will be there solely for money. Huge loss in my opinion.

 

[PHX]

The Pick is next year pick, protected 1-20. Meaning Spurs get the pick if 21 or later. If not Spurs get 2 second rounders.

The belief is Toronto is in rebuilding mode and will trade Kwahi at deadline to Lakers/Clippers. Imagine what the Lakers will give up to get Kwahi and get rid of the awful Deng contract.

I can Toronto trying to make things with Kwahi work for few couple of months then trading him if he gives no indication if he would stay with them.

Toronto will have to rebuild next year, and they gave away a pick? Kwahi might not even be there for the whole season, and definitely won't be this coming summer. Maybe Toronto is banking on getting some of the young laker talent and picks then, because if they are actually banking on building around kwahi, then they are going to be let down in the not so distant future.

 

[jho]

There is no certified report that the Lakers made any of those players available.

San Antonio was rumored to not want Ball and there has never been an indication any of the young guns (Ingram, Brown, Fultz) were available in trades.

 

[NoPlace4U]

Short term is a "good" deal for both teams, but long term is terrible, Leonard will most likely leave after this season and DeRozan will be in line to get a max contract as a 30+ year old, thats not good for San Antonio, they would've been better getting young players.

 

[Synopsis]

I wouldn't doubt that the lakers and kwahi have an understanding to just ride out this year. If they can just sign him instead of giving up their young talent, would be a win win all around for kwahi and the lakers. I'd want to keep ingram at all costs if I were the lakers, and that situation allows that. If he reaches his potential, he will be the bridge beyond the lbj/kwahi era.

 

[Synopsis]

Also, in my opinion, pops should retire. He seemingly didn't want to rebuild, while it would have been a very efficient time to do so. He probably has put the spurs years and years behind now, and odds are he will walk away in a few years and they will legit have to rebuild everything, including the staff. Selfish move in my opinion.

 

[SPANKYSN]

As a Toronto resident and Raptors fan, this trade depends heavily on Kawhi staying healthy...if he does, Toronto, the top eastern team going into the playoffs last year will be strong enough to make the eastern conference finals...BTW, Danny Green is a pretty good player as well. But the Raptors did give up an all-star in DeRozan, however, just like the Blue Jays traded 2 all-stars to get 2 all-stars (Alomar and Carter) and wound up winning their first of two World Series...in a trade, you must trade quality to get quality, and if healthy, Leonard is one of the top 5 NBA players, while DeRozan is around, say, 25th? Raptors are clearly the immediate winners of this trade. If Leonard walks after only one season, the cost may have been too high, unless, of course, he delivers them into the eastern conference final....and may get to play LeBron again now that he's gone to LA.

 

[jho]

Short term is a "good" deal for both teams, but long term is terrible, Leonard will most likely leave after this season and DeRozan will be in line to get a max contract as a 30+ year old, thats not good for San Antonio, they would've been better getting young players.

DeRozan is on a very affordable contract for the foreseeable future. He can't terminate his contract until year 3.

 

[NoPlace4U]

DeRozan is on a very affordable contract for the foreseeable future. He can't terminate his contract until year 3.

Not quite, he is averaging $27,800,000 per year and can opt out in two years.

 

[Lightmeup9]

Terrible decision from toronto DeRozen is the face of toronto.. who knows how he will be coming back from injury

 

[jho]

Not quite, he is averaging $27,800,000 per year and can opt out in two years.

That's an affordable contract for an all star these days with his skill set.

If he was on open market he could probably earn $30 mil+ from some team.

Also opt out after the second year was the same thing that I meant, he can choose not to play on that third year

 

[Synopsis]

He is an allstar, but.... meh... he isn't worth 30, or 25. He is a ride high player, meaning when things are going well, so does he, and when they arent, he disappears.

That's an affordable contract for an all star these days with his skill set.

If he was on open market he could probably earn $30 mil+ from some team.

Also opt out after the second year was the same thing that I meant, he can choose not to play on that third year

 

[Synopsis]

Also, his defence is absolutely horrible. His shooting isn't so good either. I think he was set up for success, at least offensively, in toronto.

I think he would be best as a third on a power team, or even being the 6th man. He would probably excel on a team like houston where he isn't the 1, and has a killer play maker like cp3.

 

[619Leafs]

The way I see it to get somewhere and not get stale you got to upgrade and make yourself a legit championship.

This deal has a ton of risk for raptors but as a phrase goes "no guts, no glory". As well they did not mortgage the future of the team.

For Spurs, Derozan will be great under Pops despite being snake bitten

 

[Synopsis]

I think the risk is as close to 100 percent as it can get for Toronto. They could have gotten way more safe options for derozan. Kwahi is 1 and done there, if that, and he is gone. What does Toronto have then? And they are going to lose first round of the playoffs even if he is still there at that point of the season. I have to think they went for him solely to push him off to the lakers mid season for some talent that puts them a few years ahead in the rebuild process, otherwise they really messed up. At least in my opinion that's how it seems.

 

[jho]

I think the risk is as close to 100 percent as it can get for Toronto. They could have gotten way more safe options for derozan. Kwahi is 1 and done there, if that, and he is gone. What does Toronto have then? And they are going to lose first round of the playoffs even if he is still there at that point of the season. I have to think they went for him solely to push him off to the lakers mid season for some talent that puts them a few years ahead in the rebuild process, otherwise they really messed up. At least in my opinion that's how it seems.

Great point, but I also think this is a sneaky salary dump by Toronto if things head south. They knew their window was small, and they rolled the dice on one year of competing for a title and convincing Kawhi to stay. It it failed, they can go full rebuild the following season with their young guys.

 

[99TERRANCE99]

Well damaging the credibility of the franchise lying to its best ever isnt good for any future free agents to think about coming ..deal is not horrible how it was done is the harsh frustrating disgusting debacle that it is ,especially after the coach nonsense too

 

[shadow72]

This was a terrible deal for the Raptors as there is NO WAY Leonard will stay in Toronto after his one season there. Also, it has exposed the Raps as a team who will throw away their franchise player on a whim after recently confiding in him that a deal for Leonard was not imminent. Ujiri is a terrible GM and I would not trust him as far as I could throw him.

 

[jho]

Well damaging the credibility of the franchise lying to its best ever isnt good for any future free agents to think about coming ..deal is not horrible how it was done is the harsh frustrating disgusting debacle that it is ,especially after the coach nonsense too

Well they weren't really attracting free agents before... So that part hasn't changed lol