Kawhi Leonard is headed back to Toronto, and the deal finally became official Monday. But while the trade is now complete, one NBA voice believes Leonard’s path to Springfield may not be nearly as smooth.
On SiriusXM NBA Radio, Eddie Johnson said Leonard will eventually make the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, but not right away. Johnson, speaking with Andrew Bogusch, tied that prediction to the scandal surrounding the former San Antonio Spurs star and suggested voters could make him wait.
“When he retires, he will not get in there the first or second time,” Johnson said. “I just truly believe that they're going to blackball him for about three or four years before he gets voted in.
He'll eventually get in. But I think they're going to make him sweat.
It's not going to be cut and dry. And it's going to show when guys that he played with gets in before he does.
That's going to be the message sent to Kawhi. And rightly so.”
Johnson, who played 17 NBA seasons and won Sixth Man of the Year with the Phoenix Suns in 1989, pointed out that three of Leonard’s former Spurs teammates are already in the Hall: Tim Duncan in 2020, Manu Ginóbili in 2022 and Tony Parker in 2023.
The Hall’s timing rules have changed over the years, too. Players once had to wait three full seasons after retirement. Hall chairman Jerry Colangelo said that change “effectively equated to a four-year wait” when the Hall reduced it to two seasons before the Class of 2025.
Leonard’s résumé is already built for enshrinement. Drafted 15th overall by the Indiana Pacers in 2011 and traded to San Antonio on draft night, he spent seven seasons with the Spurs and helped them win the 2014 championship, where he earned Finals MVP honors. He also won Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016, led the league in steals in 2015, and made All-NBA First Team in 2016 and 2017.
His 2016-17 season was one of the best of his career: 25.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 74 games, good for third in MVP voting. A right quadriceps injury limited him to nine games the following season, and on July 18, 2018, San Antonio traded him and Danny Green to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round pick.
Leonard then won the 2019 title with the Raptors and picked up a second Finals MVP before signing with the Clippers that summer. He is now a seven-time All-Star, a seven-time All-NBA selection and a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
The trade back to Toronto became possible after the league’s ruling against the Clippers. On Sept. 2, the NBA ordered Leonard to pay $700,000 following an independent investigation by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
The investigation found that Dennis Robertson, Leonard’s uncle and former business manager, had been “pressuring the Clippers to assist him in obtaining off-court income opportunities” on Leonard’s behalf. The Clippers also covered personal expenses Leonard never paid back, and Robertson is barred from doing business with NBA teams for five years.
Los Angeles was also fined $30 million and must forfeit its first-round picks from 2029 through 2033. Owner Steve Ballmer was suspended from all league and team activities for one year, while president of business operations Gillian Zucker received a one-year suspension without pay and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was suspended without pay for six months.
The Clippers said, “We vehemently reject the NBA's findings,” and Ballmer’s attorney, David Kelley, called the investigation “a witch hunt” in a letter to Commissioner Adam Silver. Leonard’s response came through his agent, Harrison Gaines, with Leonard saying, “Integrity and respect for this game are fundamental to who I am,” and denying knowledge of anyone’s effort to get around the salary cap.
The league opened its investigation in September 2025 after Pablo Torre reported on Leonard’s $28 million endorsement deal with Aspiration. Aspiration had filed for bankruptcy earlier that year, and co-founder Joseph Sanberg was later sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for defrauding investors and lenders of at least $248 million.
The ruling cleared the way for a trade that had been on hold since June 30. On Monday, the Clippers and Raptors finalized the deal sending Leonard back to Toronto for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 first-round swap, and second-round picks in 2030 and 2033.
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