NBA Trade Grades: Spurs deal Kawhi Leonard to Raptors for DeMar DeRozan

Toronto Raptors

The big question for the Toronto Raptors obviously revolves around what Kawhi Leonard can give them in 2018-19, and whether he’ll be more than a one-year rental. The early buzz is not exactly encouraging:

If Leonard doesn’t want to play for the Raptors, it begs the question: Will he even suit up for the team? Was there truth to the reports he’d sit out the 2018-19 season if he weren’t dealt to L.A. after all?

Before anyone goes jumping to conclusions, it’s worth noting that Leonard sitting out would do as much damage to his bank account as it would to his league-wide reputation, which is already at an all-time low:

Perhaps Leonard isn’t fully healthy and could find a legitimate medical reason to waste everyone’s time, but that seems unlikely since he was considering participating in Team USA Basketball’s upcoming mini-camp.

Leonard is still a basketball player, and even if he has no interest in staying in Toronto for the long-term, he’s probably not upset enough with his situation to just sit there and pout until 2019.

With that being said, the possibility of this being a one-year rental still looms large for We The North. The team had to trade arguably the greatest player in its franchise history to get here, and that’s a blow to morale for DeRozan and those in the locker room who loved him — particularly Kyle Lowry.

With that being said, when you can trade for what will now be the best player in the Eastern Conference when healthy, you have to do it. It’s no secret the East was slipping away from Toronto based on the massive strides made by the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.

This Kawhi Leonard trade could be the equalizer to get them back on even footing, and with their bully LeBron James taking his talents out West, the Raptors finally have a shot of getting to the NBA Finals.

Perhaps just as importantly, the Raptors were in a precarious position as far as their window for contention was concerned. After securing the No. 1 seed in the East, revamping their offense, embracing the 3-ball and boasting the best bench in the NBA last year…they still got swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the playoffs.

DeRozan is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer and a beloved fixture from the most prosperous time in the history of Toronto basketball, but after that disappointing sweep, change was needed. Kawhi Leonard could represent that change.

Unlike DeRozan, Lowry or anyone else on this team really, Kawhi is a proven playoff performer — as is Danny Green, a useful floor-spacer and skilled defender. Leonard is capable of stifling an opponent’s best player while spearheading the offense on the other end. If he’s healthy, he represents the final gear needed to finally get this team over the hump.

The threat of giving up DeRozan for a one-year rental is still very much present, but the Raptors are one of the few teams with the flexibility to maneuver based on how the upcoming season goes.

If they win the East, perhaps Kawhi stays and the title window remains open. If they fall short again and Leonard bolts for L.A., Masai Ujiri can finally pivot toward a full-scale roster blow-up. They were already on the precipice of blowing it up; how is one more year of keeping that window open going to hurt anyone?

Trading DeRozan after he was promised he would not be moved is the exact reason people shouldn’t come down so hard when guys like LeBron James and Kevin Durant take their futures into their own hands in free agency, and it’s worth noting that this trade comes with a great deal of regret for the way DeRozan’s chapter ends in Toronto.

Those bad vibes will be amplified if Leonard leaves next summer as it appears he will do at the present moment, but Toronto will be looking to the Oklahoma City Thunder and Paul George for inspiration. Perhaps a similar situation unfolds where Leonard learns to love a more successful Raptors team and decides to stay for more money.

That seems unlikely, because even when PG-13 informed the Indiana Pacers he wanted out, he didn’t come off as such a prima donna in the reports that surfaced. But even if Leonard is only in Toronto for one year, considering how little the Raptors really had to give up, this is still a chance worth taking.

There are health concerns. There’s the unfortunate emotional baggage that comes with moving DeRozan, and right now, it feels like Kawhi Leonard is unlikely to re-sign next summer or even get the Raptors past the Golden State Warriors if they do win the East.

Still, this is the kind of gamble that was worthwhile to Toronto to keep championship hopes alive, and the front office didn’t even have to give up an enticing asset like Anunoby, Siakam or even an unprotected draft pick.

This team wasn’t going any further with DeRozan at the helm, and if Kawhi Leonard is healthy, the Toronto Raptors may have put themselves back near the top of the Eastern totem pole.

Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far

Grade: A-