The Raptors were already building something nasty on defense. Now they’ve added Kawhi Leonard to the mix, and that changes the whole picture.
Toronto’s 2025-26 success was anchored by its defense. The team finished with the NBA’s fifth-best defensive rating, forced the second-most turnovers in the league, and led everyone in fastbreak points.
That’s a strong base on its own. But Leonard gives the Raptors another layer - and a serious one.
He’s an upgrade over Brandon Ingram on that end, and he makes an already tough group even harder to deal with.
Scottie Barnes was named to the All-Defensive Second Team, though there’s a real case that he belonged on the first team. Collin Murray-Boyles already looks like he could be next in line for All-Defensive recognition, Jamal Shead’s signature postseason moment came when he forced Donovan Mitchell into an eight-second violation late in Game 4, and Allen Graves arrives with a defensive reputation that travels with him. Add Leonard to that core, and the ceiling gets loud fast.
The most obvious starting group, unless Toronto makes another move, would be Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Leonard, Barnes, and Jakob Poeltl. Quickley and Barrett aren’t elite stoppers, but they can hold up well enough to let the real wrecking crew do its work. Leonard and Barnes together would be the headliners in that unit.
Where this gets really dangerous is on the bench. Darko Rajakovic could throw out some wild defensive combinations, and the options are pretty brutal for opposing offenses.
One possibility: Shead, Ja’Kobe Walter, Leonard, Barnes, and Murray-Boyles. Another: Barnes handling point guard duties with Barrett, Walter, Leonard, and Murray-Boyles around him, a look built for size and switchability across the board.
If Graves is ready to contribute right away, that only deepens the pool.
With Leonard in place, it’s not hard to imagine Toronto jumping from a top-five defense into the top three, right there with the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, and Detroit Pistons.
And there’s still another wrinkle. The Raptors could also look to upgrade the rim protection spot if the right deal comes along.
They still have trade assets, including several first-round picks, after the Leonard trade. That means they could explore moving Poeltl’s huge contract either this summer or at the deadline if a better fit becomes available - even someone like Myles Turner, though recent reporting said the Bucks aren’t especially eager to move on from the floor-spacing big.
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For the Raptors, the broader picture only gets more interesting when the leagues star movement starts to stack up around them. Toronto is already being viewed through the lens of a major talent upgrade, and with Scottie Barnes, Collin Murray-Boyles, Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett and rookie Allen Graves in the mix, the question becomes how quickly the new look can settle in if the rest of the conference keeps shifting under its feet. [Read more 🡒]
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Now the path looks a little different. Toronto declined his team option this offseason, and Mogbo has since landed with the Sacramento Kings on a two-way deal, giving him another chance to stick in the league. For the Raptors, it is another reminder that a young player can arrive with intrigue and still move on before the organization ever fully learns what he might become. [Read more 🡒]