5 winners of the Kawhi Leonard trade

2. Toronto Raptors

With DeRozan and Kyle Lowry leading the way, even with last year’s 59 wins and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, it was not working for the Raptors. Dwane Casey was fired as head coach, despite winning Coach of the Year, but promoting Nurse was not going to be enough. The player mix had to be changed, and DeRozan or Lowry were the easiest trade chips if the Raptors were going to make a move to get Leonard.

LeBron James has moved on, so the East is now wide open. The Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers are easy to point to as the favorites to win the conference, but the Raptors should not be discounted.

Leonard may not want to play in Toronto, as ESPN’s Chris Haynes has quickly reported. But after only playing nine games last season, it would be in his best interest to play well, be healthy after that lingering quad issue and re-establish himself as the best two-way player in the NBA next season. A motivated Leonard will be a good Leonard, for himself and the Raptors.

As they make a push toward finally getting over the hump to win the East, the Raptors may not care that Leonard is likely to be a one-year rental. But as we saw with Paul George and the Oklahoma City Thunder last year, when it was a foregone conclusion he’d sign with the Lakers this summer, never say never regarding Leonard being convinced to remain in Toronto when he can opt-out next summer.

The Raptors also unloaded the rest of DeRozan’s contract, with two more years plus a player option at $27.7 million per year, and took on Green’s 2018-19 player option in return. Looking ahead to a deep 2019 free agent class, that added flexibility has to be noted.