Ujiri takes big gamble trading for Leonard
Toronto gives up DeRozan for what could be season rental
It is the boldest move Masai Ujiri has made in his tenure as the chief decision-maker with the Toronto Raptors, moving on from the face of the franchise who once boasted “I am Toronto” in a stunning transaction that will reverberate through the NBA for months, if not years.
By trading DeMar DeRoza, the Raptors’ veteran guard and leading scorer, to the San Antonio Spurs for small forward Kawhi Leonard in a four-player transaction on Wednesday, Ujiri, the franchise’s president, has opened up new vistas for a team coming off the best regular season in franchise history.
The deal — still contingent on all the players passing physicals — will see DeRozan, centre Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 firstround draft pick head to the Spurs for Leonard and shooting guard Danny Green.
The trade continues a summer remake of a team that was once again crushed in the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Ujiri first fired Dwane Casey, the team’s most successful and longest-serving head coach and replaced him with Nick Nurse, one of Casey’s assistants.
Now Ujiri shifts away from the 28-year-old DeRozan, who embraced his role with the franchise, the city and Canada like no other Raptor ever has.
In Leonard, a 27-year-old native of Los Angeles, the Raptors are getting a player generally considered among the top handful of players in the league before injuries limited him to nine games last season and helped hasten his desire to flee the Spurs, one of the most consistently successful organizations in NBA history.
The six-foot-seven Leonard grew more disenchanted with the Spurs with each passing month last season and finally demanded a trade from San Antonio.
The Spurs took the high road in discussing the departure of Leonard.
“(Leonard) was a hard worker all the time and we wish him well but at this point it’s time to move on,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told reporters on Wednesday. “In no way, shape or form does it do good to go back in time and talk about A, B and C. It’s time to move on.”
Whether or not Leonard can recover the skills that had him considered a top player two years ago is a gamble Ujri seems willing to take.
The Toronto president, along with general manager Bobby Webster, may also be gambling that Leonard will find the Raptors to his long-term liking or he’ll be nothing more than an expensive rental for one year, maximum.
Leonard, who will be paid $21 million (U.S.) this coming season, will be an unrestricted free agent next July and could easily bolt for Los Angeles, long said to be his preferred destination.
But the Raptors will have a year to try and convince Leonard that he’s a good long-term fit in Toronto, much the same way the Oklahoma City Thunder proved their franchise and culture worth to Paul George last season. It still might be a long shot; initial sourced reports said Leonard had little interest in playing in Toronto.
The loss of DeRozan was made a bit more tenable, perhaps, by the fact Ujiri did not have to include any of his top young prospects or a plethora of draft picks. By not having to include either of OG Anunoby or Pascal Siakam, both seen as key pieces to Toronto’s long-term future, Ujiri has kept intact most of the team’s depth.
There is no question DeRozan was stung by news of the transaction that will send him away from the franchise that took him ninth overall in the 2009 draft.
His desire to play his entire career in Toronto, his willingness to accept the responsibility that goes with being the face of a franchise and his appreciation for the city, the country and the team stood him apart from every Raptor that went before him. Reports suggest Toronto brass may have told him he was not going to be traded and the 28year-old lashed out with his immediate reaction.
He twice eschewed any serious look at free agency to remain with the Raptors. And he sits atop, or is right close to the top, of every significant statistical category.
“Be told one thing & the outcome another,” DeRozan said in an Instagram story posted in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. “Can’t trust em. Ain’t no loyalty in this game. Sell you out quickly for a little bit of nothing.”