Shams and Woj Bomb both reporting Kawhi to Raptors for Demar all but done deal.

[tonydelk]

Yeah keeping OG and getting Green makes it a much better deal for the Raptors.

Assuming all the injured guys are healthy, this is pretty clearly the 2nd best team in the East now and are close enough to Boston that it wouldn't really be an upset if they won the series.

PG - Lowry, VanVleet, Wright
SG - Green, Powell, Richardson
SF - Leonard, Anunoby, Miles
PF - Ibaka, Siakam
C - Valanciunas, Nogueira?

That's a very good team but Boston is stronger at 4 out of 5 positions.
Lowry < Irving
Green < Jaylen
Leonard > Hayward
Ibaka < Tatum
valanciunas < Horford

I'm just glad Leonard didn't get his way.  I wish the NBA had a team in the Artic because if I were the Spurs that's where I would have traded Kawaii to.  Too bad you can't sell NBA players to overseas teams.  That would have been a good option as well.  I love the NBA and quite frankly I follow the NBA over all other sports.  (it's not saying much because I'm an avid NFL, MLB and College football fan as well)  What I can't stand is a player dictating what a team can do.  It's enough that they get a guaranteed contract.  Ask NFL players who put their bodies on the line how they feel about some of these dramatic NBA superqueens.  NFL players get the short end of the stick in sports with the Not For Long contracts. 

[saltlover]

Yeah, based on initial googling, I'm pretty sure Leonard loses like 4 million extra in taxes in this deal by moving from Texas to Canada.

Edit: It's been one of the reasons that players don't want to go to Toronto and that the Raptors had to give Lowry, Ibaka, DeRozan so much money.

And yet DeRozan gains a ton from taxes and reportedly is upset too, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Tr1boy]

Dont be surprised if Raps end up trading Leonard again sometime later this season if he doesnt agree to an extension

Raptors alternate route to trading for Shai Alexandre

[celticinorlando]

Yeah keeping OG and getting Green makes it a much better deal for the Raptors.

Assuming all the injured guys are healthy, this is pretty clearly the 2nd best team in the East now and are close enough to Boston that it wouldn't really be an upset if they won the series.

PG - Lowry, VanVleet, Wright
SG - Green, Powell, Richardson
SF - Leonard, Anunoby, Miles
PF - Ibaka, Siakam
C - Valanciunas, Nogueira?

That's a very good team but Boston is stronger at 4 out of 5 positions.
Lowry < Irving
Green < Jaylen
Leonard > Hayward
Ibaka < Tatum
valanciunas < Horford

I'm just glad Leonard didn't get his way.  I wish the NBA had a team in the Artic because if I were the Spurs that's where I would have traded Kawaii to.  Too bad you can't sell NBA players to overseas teams.  That would have been a good option as well.  I love the NBA and quite frankly I follow the NBA over all other sports.  (it's not saying much because I'm an avid NFL, MLB and College football fan as well)  What I can't stand is a player dictating what a team can do.  It's enough that they get a guaranteed contract.  Ask NFL players who put their bodies on the line how they feel about some of these dramatic NBA superqueens.  NFL players get the short end of the stick in sports with the Not For Long contracts.

Healthy Hayward can challenge Leonard...not as good but not nearly as big a gulf as people think.

[CelticSooner]

Spurs essentially traded Kawhi for Derozan straight up. Pretty short sided move.

DeRozan is under contract for 3 more years, and they return almost all of a team that nearly won 50 games with Kawhi sitting out.  I don’t understand why people think getting a grab bag of picks and prospects was the correct move.  If they were able to get a specific young player that had franchise potential, that’s one thing, but reportedly none of those were on the table.

I’m not a DeRozan fan and think it’s beyond time for SA to rebuild that’s why lol

I’m going to go with RC Buford and Greg Popovich on this one.

I’ll go with a second round exit

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Yeah, based on initial googling, I'm pretty sure Leonard loses like 4 million extra in taxes in this deal by moving from Texas to Canada.

Edit: It's been one of the reasons that players don't want to go to Toronto and that the Raptors had to give Lowry, Ibaka, DeRozan so much money.

And yet DeRozan gains a ton from taxes and reportedly is upset too, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yeah. He would gain about 5-6 million more dollars back by not having to pay extra taxes.

I think he liked being the star in the big market. I think he liked being the guy that Drake cheered for.

[johnnygreen]

Great move by Toronto. The Lowry/Derozen tandem was great for the regular season, but also a disaster in the playoffs. They will end up trading the guy with the longer contract too. If Kawhi ends up liking his time there and resigns, then it was a great deal. If Kawhi leaves after one year, it will still be a good trade because they would have dumped a max contract (Derozen) that wasn't helping them in the playoffs and also avoiding a possible luxury tax penalty in the near future.

The trade clearly makes Toronto the second best team in the East behind Boston. Toronto has a great home court advantage because of their fans, which will make them a very tough out with the addition of Kawhi. I highly doubt Kawhi resigns, but if he does, it will be because of Toronto's passionate fan base. I can also see Drake doing everything he can to help promote the Kawhi brand, and making him very marketable in a Raptors uniform.

[footey]

Boston finishes first in the East...Philly and Raps have to play each other in the second round. Sets up nicely for the Celtics.

Jumping the gun there, Orlando.   

[fairweatherfan]

Pretty nice value for the Spurs to get an actual star for Kawhi after no one was willing to make a godfather offer. This lets Toronto get one more roll of the dice before almost certainly blowing it up, and they don't lose any of their rookie deal guys. Seems like it makes mutual sense.

Wonder if Kawhi will report to Toronto though - he can still blow this up and seems capable of doing it.

The fines for reporting pile up pretty quickly.

Plus he has to show up eventually to get a year of service to become a FA. I think he reports and plays it out and then takes meetings with the LA teams + Knicks in FA getting the red carpet recruitment tour.

Haha yeah, that'll probably seal it. 

Sounds like DeRozan is very upset with Toronto, thinks he was lied to about being traded. Not a new story for guys getting traded the first time, and he's probably right about the lying. But that's the league. Shoulda won more playoff games, guy.

[timpiker]

Toronto would be insane to trade their best player for a 1 year rental.  Makes absolutely no sense to me.

This is my post from yesterday - still can't believe it now that its come true today.  Boy was I wrong.  Maybe Toronto just wants to get out of the $89M I think) they still owe DeRozan?

[Tr1boy]

Boston finishes first in the East...Philly and Raps have to play each other in the second round. Sets up nicely for the Celtics.

Jumping the gun there, Orlando.

Exactly. Worst thing that could happen to Celts happened.

Leonard is like another Lebron. People already forget

[celticinorlando]

Boston finishes first in the East...Philly and Raps have to play each other in the second round. Sets up nicely for the Celtics.

Jumping the gun there, Orlando.

Man...you guys complain when I am too negative and then complain when I positive!! I firmly believe Boston should be the #1 seed in the East if they want it.

[celticinorlando]

Boston finishes first in the East...Philly and Raps have to play each other in the second round. Sets up nicely for the Celtics.

Jumping the gun there, Orlando.

Exactly. Worst thing that could happen to Celts happened.

Leonard is like another Lebron. People already forget

Not a chance man. James on another level.

How is this the worst thing that could have happened to the Celtics? Boston adding 2 all stars to a young core that went 7 with the best player in the world? And then James leaves the East? I will take that trade off everyday.

[footey]

Anyone have any idea how much money Leonard will lose in taxes this year with this deal? Leaving Texas (no state tax) and going to Canada (extra tax I think?) seems significant.

Leonard-OG wing positions will be nasty defensively.

It's never been about money for KL. Drives a beat up truck.  Rejected super max offer of Spurs.

And yet we’ve heard a fair bit about his next shoe deal.

It's not the shoes, Mars.

[action781]

Heck if Kawhi is still they same guy I can see the Raptors beating out the C's for the 1 seed too.

I agree.  Toronto has been an excellent regular season team lately and just got better.  They've got a lot of solid depth to weather any injuries.  Not the best team in the East IMO, but would not surprise me if they finished first in regular season.