Eight years ago, the Toronto Raptors were stuck as a strong regular-season team unable to break through in the playoffs. So they took a home run swing, trading their leading scorer (DeMar DeRozan), a recent lottery pick with middling production (Jakob Poeltl) and draft capital for Kawhi Leonard in the two-way star’s final season before free agency.
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You know what happened next.
Fast forward to 2026, and the Raptors are trying the same move once again. They’re aiming to raise their ceiling by trading their leading scorer (this time, Brandon Ingram), a recent lottery pick with middling production (Gradey Dick) and draft capital for Leonard in his final season before free agency. They can only hope this deal works out as triumphantly as the last one.
The full deal, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, will send Leonard to Toronto in exchange for Ingram, Dick, two unprotected first-round picks (2031, 2033), one pick swap (2027) and two second-round picks (2030, 2033).
Key Moments
Let’s get to the grades to analyze whether the Raptors were right to run back the same Leonard play that worked last decade, and whether the Clippers were right to trade him seven years after landing him in a seismic NBA event.
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Analysis
When he’s available, Leonard remains one of the NBA’s best players. Remarkably, the 34-year-old seven-time All-Star averaged a career-high 27.9 points per game on a career-high usage rate last season. LeBron James is the only player in NBA history with a better box plus/minus at that age or older.
Leonard’s offensive gifts have scarcely departed him despite his age and injury history. Since returning from an ACL tear that cost him the entire 2021-22 campaign, he has made 40.5% of his 3-pointers. For context, Stephen Curry’s at 40.6% over the same span. And out of 60 players over the past four seasons with at least a 25% usage rate, Leonard ranks 10th in true shooting percentage, despite a difficult shot diet.
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