Reviewing the Kawhi Leonard - Demar Derozan Trade

[Puffer]

Welcome to the forum James. If you got this far through the thread you are going to be okay. It's a tough love kind of place.

Almost all the members here respected DeMars devotion to the game, the effort he put in to continue improving and his love and support for the city.

Only 25% (or so) allowed those three factors confuse them as to how much the Raptors improved with the trade. As has been suggested, even if Kawhi leaves, the team will be in a better place because of finances, the improved play of the yournger members of the team who can be retained, and the overall experience of the team.

Again, welcome to the board. Keep posting and responding.

[inthepaint]

Welcome to the forum James. If you got this far through the thread you are going to be okay. It's a tough love kind of place.

Almost all the members here respected DeMars devotion to the game, the effort he put in to continue improving and his love and support for the city.

Only 25% (or so) allowed those three factors confuse them as to how much the Raptors improved with the trade. As has been suggested, even if Kawhi leaves, the team will be in a better place because of finances, the improved play of the yournger members of the team who can be retained, and the overall experience of the team.

Again, welcome to the board. Keep posting and responding.

Puffer for Prime Minister!

[SkywalkerAC]

I was flabbergasted that almost every fan didn’t immediately cream their pants in this trade. And I was a big DeMar fan/defender.

[KeonClark]

I was flabbergasted that almost every fan didn’t immediately cream their pants in this trade. And I was a big DeMar fan/defender.

RR was more cold and logical than most of the fan base. People in real life, twitter and reddit were much more torn than we were and even now reminisce on DeMar much more fondly. Probably just a small sample size but I find it interesting

[Nilanka]

Just piling on.....Loved the trade the second it was announced.

[planetmars]

I loved the trade then.. I love the trade now.

But.. there is a drawback. Masai's plan B was rebuild. He gave Lowry and Ibaka 3 year deals. DeMar has his player option (which he'll opt out of) in a year. Masai can work with a clean slate. And that generally means tank (unless he can some how scoop up Giannis).

If Kawhi walks the drawback is we lose 3 potential assets a rebuilding team would love to have.

- Poeltl : a former lottery pick
- First round pick in 2019 (currently at #30, but still an asset).
- DeMar.

I'm sure Masai would have been able to get something back for DeMar if he wanted to trade him. A first round pick should in theory not be an issue. I'm sure he could have gotten a decent prospect. Maybe some cap relief he could use later.

These things matter. If the Raptors lose in the playoffs just as early as they did last year and if Kawhi walks... then we're basically in the same spot we were before the DeMar trade happened, just with less assets in our cupboard.


Going to take the optimistic approach. We have a great team with a super star. A conference prime for the picking without Lebron around anymore. And there is still a 50/50 chance that Kawhi stays. We didn't have that chance at all before the trade happened.

So still absolutely love the trade.. and love that Masai took the gamble instead of the easy way out.

[DanH]

I loved the trade then.. I love the trade now.

But.. there is a drawback. Masai's plan B was rebuild. He gave Lowry and Ibaka 3 year deals. DeMar has his player option (which he'll opt out of) in a year. Masai can work with a clean slate. And that generally means tank (unless he can some how scoop up Giannis).

If Kawhi walks the drawback is we lose 3 potential assets a rebuilding team would love to have.

- Poeltl : a former lottery pick
- First round pick in 2019 (currently at #30, but still an asset).
- DeMar.

I'm sure Masai would have been able to get something back for DeMar if he wanted to trade him. A first round pick should in theory not be an issue. I'm sure he could have gotten a decent prospect. Maybe some cap relief he could use later.

These things matter. If the Raptors lose in the playoffs just as early as they did last year and if Kawhi walks... then we're basically in the same spot we were before the DeMar trade happened, just with less assets in our cupboard.


Going to take the optimistic approach. We have a great team with a super star. A conference prime for the picking without Lebron around anymore. And there is still a 50/50 chance that Kawhi stays. We didn't have that chance at all before the trade happened.

So still absolutely love the trade.. and love that Masai took the gamble instead of the easy way out.

Meh. The ultimate determination for a successful rebuild is getting star talent, and no one was going to trade a star prospect or a top 5 pick for DeMar, while Poeltl and that high-20's pick were exceedingly unlikely to be that star talent.

Our pick and prospect depth is only weaker in the margins compared to not making the deal. In the greatest likelihood, our ability to rebuild successfully has not been affected at all by that trade. Sure, it would be nice to have a bunch of extra depth pieces in place, but once they are on rookie scale deals the clock starts. Better to get the stars first and then figure a way to build a complementary team around them while they are cheap, than to get the stars but already have your cap eaten up because you've given your late first round picks their raises before finding those stars.

[Beneperez]

I will say it now for reference that this is still a good trade even if Kawhi leaves at the trade deadline ( which will not happen but for arguments sake...). The Raptors got rid of DeMar's contract and added a piece we've needed throughout Masai's tenure in Danny Green. That's a great move right there. Not good, great. We've never had a role player that's been a key part of a Championship team that can make the little plays when the pressure is on. We can at least say that Danny's resume supports that profile. On top of that, he's very eager to win and wants to be here.

I also don't agree with the thought that Masai will consider tanking. It's not an option. All things considered, the worst thing to come out of the Kawhi deal is we're going to have American National audiences watching the Raptors. I haven't the schedule in front of me but I remember seeing how much of an increase in TNT/ESPN games the Raptors got compared to recent years. They're going to see aside from Kawhi why we're so good and that means Siakam, OG, FVV etc. Masai is look at this as a recruiting tool for another big name to come here if Kawhi leaves. He doesn't want to tank; he wants to fill a (potential) void. Don't underestimate how much stock Masai has put into believing he can attract players to come to Toronto. He really believes he can do it and even if you don't like him, you have to respect a guy with coconuts that big.

[SkywalkerAC]

Masai would push things toward a tank if that’s the way things were/are leaning, like he was going to with the Lowry to NYC deal.

[planetmars]

I will say it now for reference that this is still a good trade even if Kawhi leaves at the trade deadline ( which will not happen but for arguments sake...). The Raptors got rid of DeMar's contract and added a piece we've needed throughout Masai's tenure in Danny Green. That's a great move right there. Not good, great. We've never had a role player that's been a key part of a Championship team that can make the little plays when the pressure is on. We can at least say that Danny's resume supports that profile. On top of that, he's very eager to win and wants to be here.

I also don't agree with the thought that Masai will consider tanking. It's not an option. All things considered, the worst thing to come out of the Kawhi deal is we're going to have American National audiences watching the Raptors. I haven't the schedule in front of me but I remember seeing how much of an increase in TNT/ESPN games the Raptors got compared to recent years. They're going to see aside from Kawhi why we're so good and that means Siakam, OG, FVV etc. Masai is look at this as a recruiting tool for another big name to come here if Kawhi leaves. He doesn't want to tank; he wants to fill a (potential) void. Don't underestimate how much stock Masai has put into believing he can attract players to come to Toronto. He really believes he can do it and even if you don't like him, you have to respect a guy with coconuts that big.

Raptors have no tangible cap space if Kawhi leaves. They may have enough for a mid level exception (a CJ type of player). Not really a difference maker.

Cap space comes in 2020 when Lowry and Ibaka's deals are up.

[inthepaint]

I loved the trade then.. I love the trade now.

But.. there is a drawback. Masai's plan B was rebuild. He gave Lowry and Ibaka 3 year deals. DeMar has his player option (which he'll opt out of) in a year. Masai can work with a clean slate. And that generally means tank (unless he can some how scoop up Giannis).

If Kawhi walks the drawback is we lose 3 potential assets a rebuilding team would love to have.

- Poeltl : a former lottery pick
- First round pick in 2019 (currently at #30, but still an asset).
- DeMar.

I'm sure Masai would have been able to get something back for DeMar if he wanted to trade him. A first round pick should in theory not be an issue. I'm sure he could have gotten a decent prospect. Maybe some cap relief he could use later.

These things matter. If the Raptors lose in the playoffs just as early as they did last year and if Kawhi walks... then we're basically in the same spot we were before the DeMar trade happened, just with less assets in our cupboard.


Going to take the optimistic approach. We have a great team with a super star. A conference prime for the picking without Lebron around anymore. And there is still a 50/50 chance that Kawhi stays. We didn't have that chance at all before the trade happened.

So still absolutely love the trade.. and love that Masai took the gamble instead of the easy way out.

Don't forget Danny Green

[Joey]

Lmao there it is!

C'mon Mack, passed up a perfectly good gif opportunity ... I gotchu though ...

[Mack North]

C'mon Mack, passed up a perfectly good gif opportunity ... I gotchu though ...

Thanks, but I feel like GOLDBLUM should have the rights to this type of gif [emoji6]

[Superjudge]

i just read an article about the biggest trade raptors made in the past years - the raptors-spurs megadeal of leonard and derozan trade


we all (or most of us) didn't like it at first. We wanted derozan to stay and wanted him to get more respect.
But now, after over 20 games with kawhi leonard, when we have 17 wins in 21 games - do you think it was a good trade for the raptors?
Could we have same or even better results with derozan?
And which nba team made a better deal and got a better player, san antonio or toronto?

stfu.

[bertarapsfan]

Of course from an emotional stand point it was a little upsetting how this all played out for demar. The one star weve ever had that was loyal and wanted to retire here. From a fan base that always been rejeceted by the american superstar masia kinda did demar dirty. I get its a tricky situation telling demar he might be moved incase deal falls through and you have a disgrutled star but sucks deboo had to find out from other ppl he had been trade felt bad for him. From a basketball stand point i was estatic we got one of the best player in addition to danny green (ppl often forget danny probably would have been final mvp if ray allen didnt hit that shot... He had 27 3s thatseries a record until curry broke it.) the biggest kicker is we didnt have to give up OG or Pascal a very underrated part of what masia was able to pull off. Im sure if we any of us were GM we would have agreed to a demar an OG for just kawhi. Masia was able to get danny and not give up our best young player. If kawhi resigns this goes down as one of the greatest trades in NBA history