Kawhi Leonard’s move to Toronto is still sitting in limbo, but the expectation around the league is that the original deal will survive untouched.
The delay has stretched beyond two months, and this round of waiting has nothing to do with Leonard himself. According to Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of The Stein Line, the Clippers are still working through their front-office setup after owner Steve Ballmer and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank were suspended in the NBA’s cap-circumvention investigation.
With Frank out, general manager Trent Redden is expected to handle basketball operations. The Clippers also need an interim governor to stand in for Ballmer. Once those temporary decision-makers are in place, they would formally approve the Leonard trade with Toronto.
In other words, this is a paperwork problem - just a very unusual one.
There had been some talk that the Raptors might try to use the delay to push for changes, especially after Los Angeles was hit with a penalty that cost the team five future first-round picks. That punishment made the two first-rounders Toronto is sending back look a lot more valuable to the Clippers than they did when the agreement was reached on June 30.
But Brian Windhorst said on ESPN’s Hoop Collective that he does not expect any renegotiation.
“I think that trade is going to go through, and I think it’s going to go through as is,” Windhorst said. “People say in the NBA, your word is important.”
Under the current terms, Toronto gets Leonard, while Los Angeles receives Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, two second-rounders and a 2027 first-round pick swap.
Leonard also sounds like someone who believes the deal is already done. In his statement after the NBA announced its findings last week, he opened with, “As I return to Toronto.”
That’s usually a pretty strong sign of where things are headed.
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There has been some chatter that Toronto might try to revisit the terms while the paperwork sits unfinished, but the early read from sources and analysts is that the original framework is still likely to hold. For the Clippers, the delay is less about changing the basketball logic of the move than about getting the right signatures in place, and until that happens, one of the biggest deals of the summer stays just out of reach. [Read more 🡒]