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NBA Season Preview 2018-19: 20 things to watch this NBA season

By Bryan Toporek

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - APRIL 11: (L-R) Jimmy Butler #23, Karl-Anthony Towns #32, Taj Gibson #67 and Andrew Wiggins #22 of the Minnesota Timberwolves head back to the bench for a timeout during overtime of the game against the Denver Nuggets on April 11, 2018 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Timberwolves defeated the Nuggets 112-106. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - APRIL 11: (L-R) Jimmy Butler #23, Karl-Anthony Towns #32, Taj Gibson #67 and Andrew Wiggins #22 of the Minnesota Timberwolves head back to the bench for a timeout during overtime of the game against the Denver Nuggets on April 11, 2018 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Timberwolves defeated the Nuggets 112-106. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – JULY 20 – An employee at Real Sports Apparel inside Scotiabank Arena hangs up Kawhi Leonard basketball jerseys for sale to the public. Earlier, Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri talked to the media during a press conference about the DeMar DeRozan-Kawhi Leonard trade. July 20, 2018. Bernard Weil/Toronto Star (Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – JULY 20 – An employee at Real Sports Apparel inside Scotiabank Arena hangs up Kawhi Leonard basketball jerseys for sale to the public. Earlier, Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri talked to the media during a press conference about the DeMar DeRozan-Kawhi Leonard trade. July 20, 2018. Bernard Weil/Toronto Star (Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images) /

19. Kawhi Leonard in Toronto

If James and the Lakers are the No. 1 storyline this season, Kawhi Leonard’s arrival in Toronto is the 1A.

Leonard played only nine games for the San Antonio Spurs last year, as a mysterious quadriceps injury led to the disintegration of his relationship with the team. According to ESPN.com’s Chris Haynes, he requested a trade in mid-June, and the Spurs acquiesced a month later, shipping him and Danny Green to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected first-round pick.

The move was a massive gamble for the Raptors, who are fresh off a franchise-best 59-win season. Leonard has a player option in 2019-20 that he’s all but certain to decline, and ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski has been reporting for months that he has his eyes on L.A. as a free agent next summer.

Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri has fewer than 10 months to change his mind.

While discussing Leonard’s upcoming free-agent decision during a recent episode of his Inside the Green Room podcast, Green said “the city of Toronto is gonna be hard to turn down after being there” (via Wael Saghir of The Score). That echoed what someone close to Leonard told Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union-Tribune in late July: “He’s going to fall in love with Toronto — it’s going to happen. He’s not going to leave, I’m telling you.”

Provided Leonard’s quad injury is a thing of the past, the Raptors have the talent to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals this year. How they fare this year — and what signals Leonard sends about his looming free agency — will go a long way toward determining the league’s hierarchy over the next few seasons.