Trade: [TOR/SA] Leonard and Green to TOR for DeRozan, Poeltl and draft considerations

[Voight]

Why make him the fall guy, though? The team on the court clearly wasn't getting it done - that's on their mental fragility, not on Casey. Unless he was supposed to serve as their psychiatrist as well?



Isn't that....exactly what he did last year?

He was hurt last year. If he acts like a child and sits this year out while healthy, its not going to look good.

after the PG stuff one of the main concerns with kawhi is the chance he starts a bromance with lowry like PG did with westbrook

unfortunately we also need to worry about kawhi starting one with drake

Apparently Leonard doesn't listen to music (not sure if true) so while I'm sure he knows who Drake is hes never been the type to cross over into celebrity culture like LeBron

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

The Raptors weren't winning with Demar, so the rebuild was inevitable. At least now... they can go for it this year and if Leonard walks they can start the rebuild.

 

[Muston Atthews]

This honestly feels franchise sinking.

Someone should pull up one of sids multiple rants against DeRozan these past few years

 

[dahrougem2]

Someone should pull up one of sids multiple rants against DeRozan these past few years

He agrees with the trade, but he's just pointing out something very ironic and also somewhat true about Raps and DeRozan.

 

[Mark Stones Spleen]

I've wanted DeMar gone for a while so I'm pretty stoked about this. If the idea was to trade him though, I'd have preferred keeping Casey. Complete overhaul wasn't needed, they just needed to be more clutch.

 

[weastern bias]

Makes sense for both teams

San Antonio actually gets good value for a guy actively acting to tank it with his bs

Toronto gets the best player in the deal, and even though he's gonna leave in a year, they get to accelerate the reset they desperately need as a treadmill team in the crummy east

Don't feel bad for Demar either, he just made a ton of money by being traded from Ontario to Texas where there's no state income tax, he still gets to he the man on his team, and he's playing with the best teammate (Aldridge) and coach he's ever had

 

[Avs_19]

IMO, this is a good gamble by Masai. They only had two more years with this core so I don't mind the risk. They could've stayed the course with a good team or started rebuilding but instead Masai improved the team and put them right up there with the other top East teams. Losing Poeltl hurts but keeping Anunoby and giving up no unprotected picks is a win for them. DeRozan has been great for the Raptors and Canadian basketball in general so I can understand why people, including him, are upset with this.

For the Spurs, this will be interesting. They're the Spurs so they'll probably go win 60 games but Aldridge, DeRozan, and Gay playing big minutes together? On paper that doesn't seem like a great fit on either end of the floor. I like Poeltl for the future though and he's probably going to be great in that system.

Of course this is all dependant on Kawhi actually showing up and if he refuses then it's obviously a complete disaster. In that scenario you don't get Kawhi and DeRozan is pissed as well.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Has Kawhi commented at all on this, or is it just going to be all cloak-and-dagger until training camp?

 

[Mitchy]

Absolutely ecstatic with this deal as a Raptors fan. Worst comes to worst, Kawhi walks and the Raptors can finally rebuild.

Currently, the Raptors are extremely well built. Strong offensively and will be a complete defensive force with Green and Kawhi.

Masai is a genius.

 

[cgf]

That basically sums it up.

Raps traded their best player, an all-star who loved this city and wanted to stay, for a player who sat out all of last year like a petulant brat, who also apparently said he didn't want to play here. This of course is after firing last season's Coach of the Year.

Lunacy.

I'd love to hear Ujiri's reasoning for stabbing DeRo in the back.

Probably has something to do with Kawhi being a lot better and this being your best chance to get through the East.

And once you’re in the final you never know if GSW will suddenly go cold against what could be an elite defense.

 

[Avs_19]

If Toronto gets the sense by Thanksgiving that Leonard is leaving regardless, they can try to flip him to the Lakers or Clippers. Toronto won't make itself whole in such a deal, but they could recoup enough of what they traded as to make today's move almost risk-free.

If Leonard walks for nothing, the full rebuild is on. Toronto is clearly fine shedding the final two guaranteed years of DeRozan's contract, at $27.7 million a pop, and bailing out before they face the dilemma of signing DeRozan to another mega-deal into his 30s.

Toronto retains its two most interesting prospects in OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam, plus both Delon Wright and Fred VanVleet. Danny Green is more than a throw-in, even if the Spurs dangled him for very little in return over the last year, sources say. With Leonard, Anunoby, and Green, the Raptors can play lineups featuring three switchable wings who shoot 3s.

The Raptors are deep, and versatile. They can play three wings together, perhaps even with Siakam as a small-ball, super-switchable center against the right opponents. (Remember Siakam's brief work as a John Wall antidote in the first round last season?) They are a real threat to make the Finals.

In every sense, this is worth a shot for the Raptors. There is enough conflicting intel about what Leonard wants -- whether he is really hell-bent on going to a mega-market, or willing to play second fiddle to LeBron -- to embolden teams with healthy cultures. If there is some chance he doesn't know what he wants, maybe he might end up wanting you.

As always, I highly recommend reading Zach Lowe.

 

[MessierII]

I mean it’s an upgrade but you give up a star who actually wanted to play there plus a 1st. It’s seems like they are just going all in for this year.

 

[Jack Straw]

 

[Terry Yake]

raptors fans don't seem too torn up about derozan being dealt

pretty surprising for a guy who was 100% committed to toronto in this age of superteams

 

[c9777666]

I don’t get it. Why do this knowing your boogeyman is out of the East?

 

[Blitzkrug]

I honestly feel bad for DeRozan. Sure he sucked ass in the playoffs, but he was a star (maybe not a superstar on the level of LeBron or Durant, but a star nonetheless) who committed to Toronto and was the poster boy for a organization that finally had bucked the trend of not being able to hold on to their home grown players. He loved it in the city and the city loved him for the most part, especially for when he came out and started speaking about mental health. Mad props for that.

Masai is essentially betting his job on this if the plan is to get Leonard to play. I could see a scenario where Toronto got him, only to flip him to the Lakers and basically retool/rebuild on the fly by getting one of their young pieces but that seems very stupid since DeRozan seems like too high a cost to be a middleman in a trade.

 

[JackSlater]

After mulling it over I like this trade for Toronto. I wanted the team to rebuild years ago because as it was constructed it was not a legitimate championship contender. Adding Leonard puts Toronto in a situation where it either has to rebuild if he leaves in one year (good) or has a great building block to making a legitimate championship contender (good). At least Toronto is not quite in purgatory anymore.

 

[weastern bias]

If this is true Kawhi will immediately become my least favorite player in the league

A shame, I used to love him

 

[MMC]

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

He agrees with the trade, but he's just pointing out something very ironic and also somewhat true about Raps and DeRozan.

It feels good to do the dumping rather than get dumped for once.

 

[Satan]

I hope Kawhi sits out

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

If this is true Kawhi will immediately become my least favorite player in the league

A shame, I used to love him

I can't recall a player who's image or my understanding of him has changed so much so quickly. He was the perfect teammate, no ego all that. Now he's demanding trades, possibly threatening to sit out.

It's wild.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Kawhi is reaching "diva levels" rarely seen before... wow!

 

[Terry Yake]

it would be lovely if kawhi is actually serious about sitting out AND about being a laker

then TOR has no choice but to deal him to the lakers and the return will be trash

 

[MMC]

All NBA f***ed Over lineup:

PG - IT
SG - DeRozan
SF - Leonard
PF - BG
C - Boogie