The Raptors and Spurs officially announced their blockbuster trade involving Kawhi Leonard and DeMar DeRozan today, issuing a pair of press releases to confirm the deal. However, the Raptors have yet to conduct a physical on Leonard, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst noted during an appearance on Outside the Lines.
Windhorst suggests there’s a chance that the Raptors could waive Leonard’s physical, since they just want the two-time Defensive Player of the Year on their roster and may be willing to take a gamble on his health. Still, it’s a situation worth keeping an eye on. Last year, the Cavaliers and Celtics seemingly finalized their Kyrie Irving blockbuster before Isaiah Thomas‘ physical held up the deal for an extra week. I don’t expect that to happen here, and it’s even less likely that this trade falls through, but it’s not necessarily officially official until the Raptors make a call on that physical.
Here are many more reactions, notes, and updates on today’s mega-deal:
- Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri has a reputation for making bold decisions, but the team’s acquisition of Leonard is his boldest move to date, writes Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. As Lewenberg observes, Ujiri has long wanted to land a bona-fide superstar, and finally gets a chance to do so with his deal for Leonard.
- Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich informed Leonard’s camp of today’s trade early on Wednesday in what was called a “cordial” conversation, a source tells David Aldridge of TNT. According to Aldridge, Leonard isn’t thrilled about being sent to the Raptors for a few reasons, including the higher taxation rate in Canada — Texas, of course, has no state income tax.
- The Spurs‘ top priority in Leonard trade talks was landing an established scorer capable of averaging 20+ PPG, per NBA columnist Mitch Lawrence (Twitter link). The club achieved that goal by landing DeRozan.
- According to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, there’s a “fine line between hope and desperation,” and Deveney believes the Raptors land on the wrong side of that line with this trade.
- The trade is “tantalizing on paper” for the Raptors, but includes plenty of red flags and comes at a cost, given DeRozan’s loyalty to the franchise, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.
- The Raptors are sending a loud message that they’re not happy with merely being good and want to be great, says Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post.
- Longtime Spurs swingman Danny Green posted a goodbye message to the club and its fans today on Instagram, adding that he’s looking forward to his “next chapter” in Toronto.
- We passed along more notes on the Spurs/Raptors trade earlier today.
What are we even talking about? Loyalty? He got a MAX CONTRACT. Get real. The Raptors were loyal to him… b/c of them he’s walking away with 176M after 12 years in the NBA.
They could’ve been honest with a him a week ago at summer league,when they told him he wouldn’t be traded.The money side of it is irrelevant.He’s an all-star guard in the nba,if it wasn’t from Toronto,he would’ve gotten it somewhere else.
That’s the funny side to it to me,as a Philly sports fan.Toronto just traded an all-star who liked playing for them,for another who’s coming off of injury,and is likely already counting down the days til he can leave.
What’s really more respectable,
The friend who tells ya what ya need to hear, or the friend that tells ya what ya wanna hear?
Toronto is the friend that told him what he wanted to hear.Protected their own interests,with little regard towards his.
while i agree, this is a business. If a pro athlete really doesn’t think they could/will ever be traded, they need to go to the NHL where No Trade Clauses are thrown out in contracts all the time.
For most of the players in the league, I’d agree. But for someone who was a teams franchise player for almost a decade,they could’ve been more open about with him.
they sure could I agree. I’m just saying no playervshould accept “word” from a pro sports team.
They couldn’t have possibly been honest with him a week ago. Trade talks are always fluid and it was likely a last minute change of mind.
Toronto has good sports fans, they deserve a chance to be great in a weakened East or rebuild with plenty of cap room if the Kawhi experiment fails. And now Pop gets a chance to mold Derozan as the wing player he wants while Dejounte and Lonnie grow as a backcourt, leaving the Spurs and their next coach a great chance to keep being relevant in a stupidly competitive West. In conclusion, solid trade.
Leonard is upset about tax rates? he wanted to play in LA… Ontario and California tax rates are basically the same.
Leonard is relatively unproven, no long-term success, and hardly the superstar the article suggests he is. Very moody and never content with external factors. The guy seems like the next Dwight Howard.
THANK YOU!!!! All this talk he is a game changer drives me nuts. Sure he’s great defensively but people are making him out to be LeBron with this saga. The guy has had 2-3 great seasons but was hurt last year and a baby last year and now.
But he has to buy a snowblower!
It appears that Kawhi has progressed to the point where he is always right and his viewpoint is the only one that matters, aided I’m sure by his uncle constantly validating and whispering such things in his ear. It appears now that he won’t be happy unless he has something to be unhappy about.
Exactly. Winning teams would be wise to steer clear of him.
I’m willing to bet it’s Uncle Dennis.
Wondering if ‘Uncle Dennis’ is really Uncle Lamar.’
LaVar*
The Cris Carter thing went poof.
Not yet. He said he was only talking to Kawhi’s camp, not the Spurs. He’s said Kawhi will go only to the Lakers or Spurs next summer. He knows what Kawhi is saying, he just doesn’t know what Toronto and San Antonio are saying. It’s being said (CBS and Yahoo) that if Kawhi attempts to sit out the season he can be examined by a neutral physician, fined for missing practice and games, and losing free agency next summer. Kawhi has until next summer to decide if he wants to play 2nd fiddle to LeBron, just like Kyrie.
Make that Lakers or Clippers.
Agree with Sean Deveney, this trade smacks of desperation from Toronto, they lost DeRozan’s loyalty, which can affect other players they way he has been treated, players notice that, San Antonio getting DeRozan are the clear & far away winners of this deal. Not many times in life desperation ends as good as hope…
agree. hard to rebuild when you trade a first and as for the cap room, great but you’ve alienated a former face of the franchise and are acquiring a guy who hasn’t said a nice thing about any city not named Los Angeles in over a year. who’s going to want to come knowing you couldn’t satisfy one guy, and the one who was you lied to (though again it’s a business and should be expected)
You do realize that Toronto already has good young players
Yes but not ones i would consider to be able to carry a franchise. Good supporting cast
Leonard was badly served by those who handled the transaction. If it was about taxes, he was wrong on both counts – California’s repressive tax system would have “taken him to the cleaners.” Canada, being a socialist country, will excise him at a rate unheard of in the US except in NY state.
I still cant believe how amazing this deal is for Toronto. The only thing I was thinking was that maybe Kawhi is less healthy than thought, but that wouldnt stop me from making that deal either.
I still think the Spurs could have got more from a few teams. If they were looking to remain competitive, as originally speculated when it was first announced that Kawhi wanted out, I feel like the Heat, for 1 example, could have given them a really good offer. My guess would be that Waiters injury could have played into why they would say no, but I think they could have offered a deal around Waiters, James Johnson, Rodney Mcgruder, pick(s), and taken back Patty Mills. I could even see them willing to use Dragic in a scenario, although I dont think the Spurs need guards. My guess is they think they can turn Derozan into a better defender, improve his basketball IQ, improve his outside jumpshot, and make him a better team offensive player. That remains to be seen
Kawhi knows that taxes in California would have been really high as well, right?
Hey, DeMar: No Trade Clause?
Yeah, didn’t think so.
#YouGotBlaked