In his short time here, Toronto credited Kawhi Leonard with a number of virtues – quietude, competence, an intense desire to do his best. The assumption was that Leonard was a simple man with simple needs – to play basketball and be left alone.
We were wrong.
Leonard is all those things. But he is apparently also a cunning dynasty builder who wants to create a legacy as one of the great players in league history. Early on Saturday morning, he began pushing his pieces around the board to create a super team in Los Angeles. And, no, not the one you think.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA’s most unimpeachable source, Leonard has decided to leave the Raptors and join his hometown L.A. Clippers.
This leaves Toronto bereft, the crosstown Lakers looking stupid and a lot of U.S. media pundits looking to leave the country for a while in hopes people will forget how wrong they got this.
Up to a point, this was to be expected. The Clippers were the early favourite to get Leonard. Toronto nosed ahead at one point. The Lakers made a late charge. There’s no real surprise in how it ended.
What is surprising is Leonard’s apparent condition for coming. He didn’t just want money (4 years, US$142-million). He also wanted one particular player to join him.
If ESPN is to be believed, Leonard first had to convince the player – Oklahoma City all-star Paul George – that he should come.
Since George is under contract, he then had to convince George to demand a trade.
George had to convince the Thunder that trading him was their only option.
Leonard had to convince the Clippers to roll over and give the Thunder whatever they wanted for George.
And, remember, all of this was kept secret until the reveal, which is nearly impossible in the NBA.
The Thunder and Clippers both caved under Leonard’s demand.
In return for George, the Clippers reportedly gave Oklahoma City two pretty good players, five(!) first-round draft picks and the right to swap two additional first-round picks. For one guy.
On Leonard’s say-so, the Clippers haven’t mortgaged their future. They’ve nailed a board over the front door and abandoned it. Were Leonard’s foot to get run over by a lawnmower, they wouldn’t even have a team.
Then Leonard orchestrated it so that the news would not drop until very late on Friday night ET, the stillest time of the week and thus the one sparing him the most media hassle.
Through its history, the NBA has had its Leonardos and Michelangelos. Leonard is its first Machiavelli. And while I say that, I’m up on my feet, applauding.
Leonard has just revealed himself as the cleverest operator in sport. He wanted a team built to his precise specifications, and he just got one. That makes him more powerful than any general manager and most team owners.
Some athletes have more influence than he does, but you can only utilize that influence at specific times. No one has ever done it better. Leonard waited until he’d been in the league eight years for his window of influence to open and then started making calls.
According to ESPN, Leonard offered the same “get George, get me” deal to Toronto. That package would have featured the Raptors star-of-the-future, Pascal Siakam, and hinged on Toronto taking back Russell Westbrook, who is hugely paid and a bit of a malcontent. Either Toronto couldn’t put the deal together or didn’t want to.
Now it’s hard to know now if the Raptors were Leonard’s Plan A, B or C. But he gave Toronto a shot and they either couldn’t hit it or declined to take it.
So fair’s fair.
As I’ve already written, I think this is a perfect ending to the story, if nowhere close to the one the Raptors and their fans wanted to be told.
Leonard arrived, performed a miracle, then walked off across the water. We’ll all remember it fondly in 25 years. Perhaps even more so now that it ends this way.
One hopes that whenever Leonard returns, he gets the ovation he deserves. Leonard isn’t Vince Carter or Chris Bosh. Beyond one incredible year, he had no ties to the Raptors. He wasn’t drafted or nurtured by them. He didn’t promise a thing. He didn’t even hint one way or the other.
When traded here, Leonard didn’t want to come – he said that later. But he did so uncomplainingly and did his job better than any Toronto player ever has. He should be remembered in the most salutary light.
Though his time here was short, he remains the greatest player in Toronto sports history. Perhaps even because his time was so short.
Now everything changes. The Raptors go from greatness to goodness. The free-agent market has dried up. The Raptors don’t have the cap space to get another star even if one was still job hunting. Danny Green also left on Friday night – to the Lakers.
That leaves some of the old core – Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol – and some of the new – Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, O.G. Anunoby. Right now, that’s the starting line-up.
They could take one more run at it, but everyone knows how that ends. People might appreciate it for nostalgic reasons, which would give the Raptors room to breathe for a year. That’s when Lowry’s and Gasol’s contracts come off the books.
Or they could begin the rebuild now – trade Lowry and Gasol, give the franchise keys to their budding star, Siakam.
Either way, Toronto’s window of contention has closed. They won’t lose 70 games. They’ll probably still make the playoffs. But nobody in their right mind believes they are championship contenders any more.
In the immediate aftermath, the Clippers became Vegas’ odds-on favourite to win the title – 3-to-1.
That’s not because the Clippers are the likeliest winners. As good as Leonard and George are, they can’t play every position. The team around them has no history of winning.
But they’re up top because oddsmakers and bettors believe in Leonard.
After what he’s pulled off in the last 10 weeks, who would disagree?