The Kawhi Leonard saga in San Antonio is over, as is DeMar DeRozan's time in Toronto.
An NBA summer blockbuster got pulled off Wednesday, with the Spurs sending Leonard to the Raptors as part of a four-player deal that has DeRozan heading to San Antonio. The Spurs also got center Jakob Poeltl and a 2019 protected first-round draft pick, while the Raptors acquired sharpshooter Danny Green.
For Leonard and the Spurs, there's finally closure to a relationship that seemed fractured beyond repair and played out like a soap opera. In the end, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich — insisting that looking back at what happened would not be worth his time, and that Leonard was a good teammate throughout his tenure in San Antonio — simply said he hopes the move works out for everyone involved.
"Kawhi, obviously, worked very hard to become the player he is," Popovich said in San Antonio, a couple of hours after the trade became official when the teams got approval on the terms from the NBA. "Our staff worked very hard to help him get there. We wish him all the best as he moves on to Toronto. I think he's going to be great."
Leonard, 27, was the 2014 NBA Finals MVP and had been with the Spurs for seven seasons, averaging 16.3 points, though was limited to only nine games last season because of somewhat mysterious right quadriceps injury. When healthy, there might be no better two-way player in the game.
Leonard can be a free agent next summer. When he asked the Spurs for a trade weeks ago, it was made clear that he wants to play for the Los Angeles Lakers — a team that landed LeBron James earlier this month. That means the Raptors know they could have given up a star like DeRozan for someone who might not be in Canada for long.
DeRozan, who turns 29 on Aug. 7, has averaged 19.7 points over his nine-year career, all with Toronto. He has led the Raptors in scoring in each of the past five seasons.
Toronto went 59-23 and earned the No. 1 seed for the Eastern Conference playoffs last season. But after getting swept in the second round by Cleveland, the Raptors decided big changes were necessary — first the firing of NBA Coach of the Year Dwane Casey, and now the trading of a perennial All-Star who once famously declared, "I am Toronto."
