Toronto Raptors: Danny Green the overlooked piece in the Kawhi Leonard trade

Seemingly just a throw-in over the summer, Danny Green has become of immense importance to the Toronto Raptors’ title hopes.

The Toronto Raptors made headlines over the summer when they sent the team’s all-time leading scorer DeMar DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Kawhi Leonard.

Despite the hesitancy Leonard’s impending free agency may have brought, there was no denying his talent as a two-time Defensive Player of the Year who’d developed into one of the best offensive threats in the game as well. He was a definite upgrade over DeRozan, one capable of pushing Toronto into the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

While Kawhi was rightfully the talk of all the media outlets for the next few weeks, there just so happened to be another player who accompanied Leonard in his journey north, one who appeared present in the deal only to match salaries and nothing more, but now who figures to play a key role in the Raptors’ success this season.

Danny Green came into this league an unheralded second round pick of the 2009 NBA Draft. His career has seen multiple runs through what was then called the D-League, and it wasn’t until a few years into his second tenure in San Antonio where the former Tar Heel began to shine.

In the modern NBA of 3s and versatility, Green’s style of play is quintessential for any team in the league. Standing 6’6” with a wingspan stretching 6’10”, he’s capable of corralling and neutralizing most perimeter threats, and with a career 39.7 percent conversion rate from distance, he’s developed into a terrific floor-spacer for teammates capable of creating shots.

Shooting 3s and defending at a high level — 3-and-D, as it’s better known — is what’s helped Green stick in the league. He did just that as a member of the Spurs, even helping them to a title in 2014, but as a Raptor he’s taken it up a notch on both ends of the court.

Currently in his 10th NBA season, Green is posting some of his best marks in both 3-point shooting and effective field goal percentage at 42.1 and 58.4 percent, respectively. He contests the eighth-most outside shots per game. His plus-minus per 100 possessions is a career-best +14.0. Green may not stuff the traditional stat-sheet, but his influence on the Raptors is undeniable.

Kawhi Leonard is a perennial All-Star, probably the best two-way player in the game and a legitimate MVP candidate for a Toronto squad with the most wins in the entire NBA. He was the main attraction in that deal with San Antonio for a reason.

Every team, though, needs role players capable of doing the less glamorous things necessary to win basketball games, guys who are fine with minimal statistical production and some of the tougher defensive assignments, and that is where Green has become an invaluable member for head coach Nick Nurse this season.

Green is set to be an unrestricted free agent following the 2018-19 campaign. Like Leonard, there’s no telling whether or not he’ll still be in Toronto by this time next year. But in the present day, he’s a guy whose impact will be felt in whichever way the Raptors’ season ends, clearly proving to be more than the throw-in some may have thought he was over the summer.