Kawhi Leonard Trade Makes Toronto Raptors Instant Eastern Conference Contenders

Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors have reunited with the Clippers moving on from Leonard in a trade where they receive Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two first-round picks, 1 pick swap, and 2 second-round picks.

This feels like an absolute slam dunk for the Raptors. Despite only being in Toronto for one season, Leonard might be the most important player in the franchise’s history. His shocking 2019 Finals run will always be revered by Raptors fans, and he has a chance to repeat history if he can stay healthy.

Toronto took Cleveland to the brink in the first round of the playoffs this season, and two things were very clear at the end of that series. The Raptors desperately needed a secondary scorer to work with Scottie Barnes, and more than that, they needed someone who can space the floor. Luckily, Kawhi can do both of those things when he’s healthy.

Since winning rookie of the year in 2022, things had quieted down for Scottie Barnes. He was seen as just another guy, but I think he shed that title after almost single-handedly taking Cleveland to seven games in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. I think they would have handled the Cavs easily if they had had any other All-Star-caliber player to replace an injured and inefficient Ingram.

The Knicks made somewhat light work of the East this past season, but I still feel the conference is quite wide open. The Raptors were able to move off Brandon Ingram, a guy I don’t love in the modern NBA, for one of the best forwards we’ve ever seen.

However, I’ve already mentioned it, but it’s impossible to talk about Kawhi without bringing up the injury concerns. He hasn’t played 70 games in a season since 2016-17, but he did stay relatively healthy for the second half of this past year. If you can keep healthy when the playoffs arise, you have the best two-way pairing in Barnes and Leonard in the entire NBA.

Despite the numerous injuries, this past year still might have been the best offensive season of his career, averaging 27.9 points on nearly 50/40/90 splits (50.5/38.7/89.2). If the Raptors can add at least one floor-spacing shooter, this team can immediately become serious contenders this year. If Leonard makes it through the regular season in one piece, I might consider the Raptors as the number one contender in the East.