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Kawhi Leonard will soon be back with the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers are ironing out secondary details of a trade that brings the two-time NBA Finals MVP back to Canada seven years after he went home following the Raptors’ championship win.
A deal had been speculated for several days leading up to Tuesday’s start of NBA free agency with the Clippers continuing to move in a new, younger direction following the unravelling of the Leonard-Paul George era.
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported that Toronto would send all-star forward Brandon Ingram, 2023’s No. 13 overall selection Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, a pick-swap option and two second-round picks to Los Angeles in exchange for Leonard.
Amazon’s Chris Haynes then reported Leonard and the Raptors will soon “engage to structure out the terms on a two-year extension to lock up the future Hall of Famer through the 2028-29 season, sources say.”
The deal is unlikely to become official until the NBA’s moratorium period ends on July 6. Leonard can then ink a two-year extension worth roughly $125 million, adding to the $50.3 million he’s due in 2026-27.
Brandon Ingram of the Toronto Raptors warms up ahead of Game 3 of his team’s playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Scotiabank Arena on April 23, 2026 in Toronto.
How does this impact the Raptors?
It’s possible the trade could involve other pieces to ease some Raptors salary cap concerns (Trayce Jackson-Davis and Jamison Battle would theoretically prevent the Raptors from being hard-capped, which would restrict them from adding any salary or making certain follow-up moves) and medicals will be checked. Both Leonard and Ingram have an extensive history of injuries.
Ingram had a strong season after being acquired while injured during the prior campaign from New Orleans. He earned his second all-star selection, led the team in scoring and won Toronto some games before a nagging heel injury caught up to him at the end of the regular season and led to a wretched playoff series against Cleveland that ended early due to the injury.
He was a true professional and an extremely popular teammate while providing the scoring prowess to complement franchise player Scottie Barnes, but just played a career high in minutes in 77 games, only the second time he’s exceeded 65 games in an NBA season.
Leonard might have the more documented injury history (he played in 59% of the Clippers’ regular season games during his time there and in 69% of their playoff games), but Ingram has had his own battles to stay on the court over the years and only two years ago was held under 20 games. Leonard is an upgraded version of Ingram on offence, more skilled, stronger and far more willing to take and make three-pointers, while rebounding and defending at a high rate (though not quite as he did at his apex).
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Dick, billed as the best shooter in his draft class after starring in high school and for a year in the NCAA at Kansas, had flashes with the Raptors, but those mostly came when he was given a bigger role when the team was devastated by injuries. He never took to being a role player and went into a deep slump last season, falling out of Darko Rajakovic’s rotation entirely. It was time for a change for him.
The team retained RJ Barrett, which should help the offence due to his attacking style, and 21-year-old wing Ja’Kobe Walter, who had an excellent finish to his second season, as well as Jamal Shead and others like Allen Graves, picked up with the 19th selection in the recent NBA draft.
The draft picks owed to the Clippers are Toronto’s gamble. Jake Fischer, of the Stein Line, reported Toronto will be surrendering its 2031 and 2033 first rounders unprotected and the swap option will be in 2027 (Toronto will likely get Oklahoma City’s late first rounder since the Thunder have swap rights on L.A.’s pick from the long ago deal that combined George with Leonard). The Clippers grinded to get those picks way out into the future (instead of say 2028 and 2030) in exchange for not taking either Collin Murray-Boyles or Walter. There’s risk there for sure for the Raptors, since Leonard will likely be comforrtably retired by then, but they had to give something to land a player of Leonard’s caliber and take advantage of the start of Barnes’s prime.
Pairing Barnes with Leonard instantly gives the Raptors an ultra-elite front court. If Jakob Poeltl can stay healthy, they will be bigger and stronger than pretty much any opponent up front. Murray-Boyles, a revelation as a 20-year-old rookie is waiting in the wings and will likely start some games either when Poeltl is out or when Leonard is load managed, as he was during his first stint with the Raptors.
Kawhi’s Clippers tenure ends
Leonard made an all-NBA team four times in six seasons with the Clippers, including 2025-26, when he was seventh in MVP voting after one of his best campaigns, but also missed an entire season and large chunks of many more while with Los Angeles. His departure from Toronto was not without some controversy.
The Leonard and Paul George era was a failure. George left last summer for Philadelphia, which turned out being a huge win for the Clippers given how much money he got, his age and recurring injuries. If he were still on the books, their future would be a lot dicier.
Bradley Beal, another veteran, opted out Monday and the Clippers want to get younger. They just drafted a potential future star in Keaton Wagler, 19, fifth overall — a great return for 29-year-old centre Ivica Zubac from Indiana — and swapped James Harden for Darius Garland, 10 years his junior, last season as well.
Leonard turned 35 on Monday amidst the latest barrage of trade rumours and his age and injury history would obviously be concerns for the Raptors, but no franchise knows how to keep him fit as well as director of sports science Alex McKechnie — Mr. ‘Load Management’ himself — and the Raptors.
There is an already built-in trust factor between the franchise and Leonard.
“It’s big. You have to be able to play for people that you trust and them being able to see what you feel and you just move from there and try to get better together,” Leonard said when asked about working in tandem with the medical staff and the organization back when he was a Raptor.
“We’ll see how it goes moving forward, but me missing games isn’t just to keep me fresh. It’s obviously making sure I don’t re-injure something that I was out for last year.
“They’ve been doing a good job of reading images and making sure that I’m improving instead of declining on the health side.
“It feels a lot better than when I started the season. There was a little spell where it kind of plateaued, but everybody brought their minds together and we figured out a way and now things are looking good and I’m feeling good.”
As well, as recently as in January, Leonard said: “Toronto is still in my heart,” when he dedicated a basketball court in Scarborough and ran a youth camp there.
Per CBC, Leonard said he wanted to “leave a blueprint” and reminded onlookers that his son was “born out here, so he’s a Canadian.”
Now he’ll potentially end up with his number retired or with a statue in Toronto, where he was revered during that one special year.
Pair Barnes, ascendant in a seven-game loss to Cleveland and one of the best defenders on the planet, with Leonard and with emerging defensive monster Collin Murray-Boyles available off the bench, and suddenly the fifth-best defensive team last season levels up significantly and adds one of the most lethal offensive weapons in the sport.
The defending champion New York Knicks remain nearly intact and dangerous, but the rest of the East is either unproven (the Miami super-team, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Cleveland) or in some sort of flux (Boston with the Jaylen Brown saga, Detroit with the Jalen Duren drama).
With a healthy Kawhi (always a major caveat), Toronto on paper looks like a Top 3 team in the conference.
Owner Rogers Communications wants the franchise to be relevant and competitive, which hasn’t happened all that often since the post-COVID return to NBA normalcy. Leonard’s repatriation give them the best chance of achieving that goal.
In high school, Barnes said Leonard was the NBA player he would most want to play with. While he enjoyed teaming with Ingram, Leonard would get him much closer to contention.
Now we’ll see how it all plays out.
@WolstatSun