Shot at Leonard too good to pass up
Could this be the summer that Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster make what would be the boldest personnel move of their tenures atop the National Basketball Association franchise’s pecking order?
We are, of course, talking about what many are talking about, the chance to make a move to acquire Kawhi Leonard from the San Antonio Spurs, something that’s been churning in the rumour mill for a couple of days.
It created a bit of chatter at the Las Vegas Summer League, highly-regarded national commentators in the United States have chimed in on the possibility of the Raptors being involved, and there’s enough smoke to make sure everyone watches for fire.
(An aside: Please pay no attention — NONE — to the “odds” of this happening. Oddsmakers who tout the Raptors as a “favourite” are in business solely to put forward propositions that attract equal money on each side so they can maximize their profits. It does not mean one thing is going to happen over another, never has and never will.) Anyway, to the main point: Should the Raptors put together some sort of package that would allow them to at least rent Leonard’s services for one season? Should they join presumptive bidders such as the Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers for the services of one of the top handful of players in the league who has apparently had his fill of the Spurs, who only represent the gold standard for sustained NBA success over the past 20 years.
Of course they should. It’s just what’s in that package that’s the issue that I’m sure Ujiri and Webster are wrestling with, as well they should be.
If I’m the Spurs, I’d be looking at DeMar DeRozan, OG Anunoby, at least two first-round draft picks and probably one other player or pick to start the conversation. And that’s too much.
If Ujiri and Webster want my advice — and I’m dead certain they do because who wouldn’t? — I’d probably counter with one of DeRozan or Kyle Lowry, one of Norm Powell or Jakob Poeltl, Delon Wright and two future firsts and see if that moves the needle.
I doubt the Spurs have interest in Powell and the four-year deal that just kicked in but what the hell, why not try?
Including DeRozan, of course, would unquestionably hit the fan base hard. The 29-year-old is the longest-serving Raptor, has led the team to its greatest successes and professed a desire to play his entire career in Toronto, and his departure would represent a sea change for the roster. For those into subliminal messages, DeRozan did scrub his Instagram feed clean this week and left a message: “We had some bumps along the way. But the reward is in the journey. I’m in my bag.” Close DeRozanologists realize that may mean nothing, but it’s out there and set the cats among the pigeons. The last thing Ujiri is, or can be, is some kind of sentimentalist but moving DeRozan would be among his most bold moves.
Whether any Toronto offer would be good enough to get something done is only known by Ujiri, Webster and Spurs general manager R.C. Buford and there are certainly other teams in the mix that give San Antonio options.
Boston and Philadelphia have more highly-regarded young talent and multiple draft picks to dangle, but they might not want to tinker with longer-term thinking without assurances Leonard would re-up for years to come. The Lakers are in the same boat talentwise as Boston and Philadelphia but they could also wait a year and use their cap space on Leonard without losing assets, giving LeBron James a year to get acclimated to both Los Angeles and the Western Conference. Plus, the Spurs may not want to move Leonard to a conference rival, if only for the one season he might spend with his new team.
In the last year of his current deal, Leonard, who appeared in only nine games last season due to injury, will be paid nearly $21 million U.S. in 2018-19.
To the philosophical question of whether or not the Raptors should chase maybe one year of Leonard, the answer is a resounding yes.
Ujiri has barely hidden what he sees as the “window” for this group of Raptors to contend in the East, and the NBA. By bestowing three-year deals on Lowry and Serge Ibaka in July 2017, by giving Fred VanVleet a two-year deal just last week and with Jonas Valanciunas and DeRozan possibly free agents after the 2019-20 season, the president has capped this group at two more years.
Blowing that up one year earlier might not be a horrible hardship and still leave Toronto with a solid young core a year from now along with copious amounts of salary-cap space in the summer of 2020. It would give new coach Nick Nurse a different roster to work with, it could re-energize the players who are left, and it would definitely send a signal around the league that Toronto fancies itself as a major player in the conference. And who knows, maybe a year with Leonard in Toronto turns out like Paul George in Oklahoma City: enough time to convince a star that it’s worth his while to stick around rather than bolt to somewhere everyone expects him to go.
Regardless of how this plays out — there are enough moving parts to make it impossible to predict what will happen when and every leak has to be qualified by understanding who benefits from them — it’s time that Ujiri and Webster made serious steps toward a franchise-altering transaction.
It might not work out, but it’s worth whatever effort it takes.