NBA: Kawhi Dealt to the Raptors
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the San Antonio Spurs have agreed to trade two-time NBA All-Star and 2014 NBA Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard, to the Toronto Raptors. In exchange, the Raptors will be sending their best player, DeMar DeRozan, to San Antonio. DeRozan is a four-time NBA All-Star. This is one of the biggest trades in recent memory as the two contenders are dealing their top player. Leonard has expressed his desire to leave San Antonio for some time and potentially play for the Los Angeles Lakers, but it seems that the Spurs refused to trade Kawhi anywhere in the Western Conference. Which makes sense, it would only make it more difficult for them to compete. But now, with DeRozan, the Spurs could make some noise.
DeRozan is a great player and at times last year, was playing at an MVP-caliber level. He averaged 23.0 points, 5.2 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game. The Raptors went 59-23 and were the top seed in the East before getting bounced by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third straight season. The Raptors decided that it was time for a change so they fired head coach Dwane Casey (Coach of the Year) and have now traded DeRozan. As for Leonard, he only played in nine games last year after dealing with injuries for the better portion of the last two seasons. He put up a pedestrian 16.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, but he's a consensus top five player in the league when he's completely healthy.
Also included in this deal is Danny Green, who won the 2014 title with the Spurs. He's headed to Toronto with Kawhi and will compete for the starting shooting guard spot with O.G. Anunoby. Green averaged 8.6 points per game last year, and is one of the better pure shooters in the NBA. The Spurs all of a sudden have lost two of their core players from the 2014 team in Leonard and Tony Parker. They'll have a much different looking lineup when the 2018-19 season kicks off. Their starting lineup could potentially look like: Dejounte Murray, DeRozan, Rudy Gay, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Pau Gasol. None of those guys were there when they won it all less than five years ago. In the end, Leonard gets traded like he requested, but maybe not exactly where he wanted.
Photo Credit: The Big Lead.
