{"id":2019042,"date":"2026-06-30T10:45:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2019042"},"modified":"2026-06-30T10:45:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:45:34","slug":"kawhi-leonard-returning-to-raptors-is-more-than-a-fun-thought-it-makes-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2019042","title":{"rendered":"Kawhi Leonard returning to Raptors is more than a fun thought \u2014 it makes sense"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On paper, it makes no sense. Why would one of the youngest teams to make the playoffs last year move future assets to acquire an injury-prone, 35-year-old star \u2014 even if that player helped produce the greatest moment in franchise history? More than that, why would the team do that and then<\/em> offer the player an expensive multi-year extension?<\/p>\n

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Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As ever, the devil is in the details. Those details are what make the idea of the Toronto Raptors reacquiring Kawhi Leonard rational.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Clippers and Raptors have been engaged on the Leonard front for days now, with Toronto seen as the frontrunner, per league sources who were granted anonymity so they could speak freely on the talks. While Dallas is known to have pursued Leonard, as The Athletic<\/em> first reported<\/a>, the Raptors are on Leonard\u2019s list of teams that he\u2019s willing to sign an extension with (along with the San Antonio Spurs) and have a significant edge as a result. Last week, The Athletic<\/em> reported that the interest is mutual<\/a>. The Raptors are in a position to be interested in a lot of players.<\/p>\n

To understand why the Raptors are interested, we first must explore why the Clippers might move Leonard. With just one year and $50.3 million left on his contract, Leonard is obviously thinking about his next deal, as that is how the league works. The Clippers got much younger in February when they traded James Harden for Darius Garland.<\/p>\n

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Why the Portland Trail Blazers traded for Ja Morant<\/div>\n
Esfandiar Baraheni and Jeshua Kidd<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/bd3eqEs2svbaaWh\/”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/bd3eqEs2svbaaWh\/”,”name”:”Why the Portland Trail Blazers traded for Ja Morant”,”description”:”The Portland Trail Blazers just landed Ja Morant in a big trade. Es Baraheni breaks down what that means for the team. “,”uploadDate”:”2026-06-29T22:37:38.914Z”,”duration”:”PT1M14S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/bd3eqEs2svbaaWh\/hKGXFlTaUL0M.0000000.jpg”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/bd3eqEs2svbaaWh\/hKGXFlTaUL0M\/hKGXFlTaUL0M.m3u8″,”transcript”:”The Portland Trail Blazers have traded for John Morant. The John Morant saga in Memphis is finally over. There’s 4 questions that immediately pop out in my mind. The first thing is, how do he and Damian Lillard work together? Not to mention the Blazers have a stacked backcourt situation between Damian Lillard, Drew Holiday, and Scoop Henderson. What does this acquisition mean for All of them. How much do the Portland Trail Blazers believe that John Morant can get back to that All-Star level that he was? John Morant is undoubtedly one of the best passers in the NBA, and he used to be one of the best drivers in all of basketball. If you were to ever get back to that level, the combination of him and Danny Adia would make the Trail Blazers one of the best driving teams in all of the NBA. And the third question I have is, what does this all mean for Scoot Henderson? What does this mean for his future as a Portland Trail Blazer with some contract decisions coming up? But overall, this is a good swing for the Portland Trail Blazers who were able to get off of Jeremy Grant’s contract, all while adding a very intriguing piece in Morant that maybe if it all works out, can work out very well for Portland.”,”ineligibleRegion”:[“BI”,”BY”,”CD”,”CF”,”CU”,”IQ”,”IR”,”KP”,”LB”,”LY”,”ML”,”NI”,”RU”,”SD”,”SO”,”SS”,”SY”,”UA”,”VE”,”YE”,”ZW”],”publisher”:{“@type”:”NewsMediaOrganization”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher”,”name”:”The Athletic”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/”,”foundingDate”:”2016-01-25″,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”url”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”creditText”:”The Athletic”,”height”:”60″,”width”:”435″},”publishingPrinciples”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/”,”sameAs”:”https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic”},”author”:[{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”Esfandiar Baraheni and Jeshua Kidd”}]}<\/p>\n
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