Kawhi Leonard never suited up for the Pacers, but his fingerprints are all over the roster Indiana has built years later.
That’s the strange thread running through a pair of franchise-changing moves. Leonard was selected by Indiana with the No. 15 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, then traded to San Antonio as part of the deal that brought George Hill to the Pacers.
He never played a second for Indiana. Still, nearly 15 years later, Leonard somehow helped the Pacers land two of the three players in their current starting frontcourt.
The first twist came in the summer of 2019. Leonard had just delivered Toronto its first and only NBA championship, but he didn’t stay to keep that group together. Instead of running it back with Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, he left for the Los Angeles Clippers.
That departure changed everything for Toronto. The Raptors’ championship core slowly broke apart, and less than five years later Indiana stepped in and acquired Siakam on Jan.
17, 2024. It turned into one of the most important trades in Pacers history.
Siakam has become exactly what Indiana needed: an All-Star caliber player, champion, leader and steadying presence for a young team. The Pacers don’t make their incredible postseason runs without him, and they certainly don’t get close to an NBA championship without Siakam playing such a significant role.
Then came another Leonard-linked opening. After Myles Turner left in free agency in 2025, Indiana was again looking for a long-term answer at center.
By September 2026, Pablo Torre’s reporting on Leonard, the Clippers and Aspiration had brought allegations of salary-cap circumvention into the spotlight. The fallout pushed Los Angeles in a new direction and led to two huge trades before the deadline.
James Harden was sent to Cleveland in a deal involving Darius Garland, while Indiana landed Zubac and Kobe Brown by sending Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, two first-round picks and a second-round pick to Los Angeles.
Once more, Leonard’s situation had an indirect effect on the Pacers.
If the Clippers never unraveled, maybe Los Angeles keeps building around Leonard and Zubac never hits the market. Instead, Indiana got a center who fits neatly next to Tyrese Haliburton and Siakam, while also making sense for the team financially.
Zubac gives the Pacers an upgrade in the middle, bringing elite rebounding, interior presence and proven size without shutting the door on roster flexibility.
So the whole thing lands in a pretty wild place: a player Indiana drafted and traded away in 2011 ended up helping shape the Pacers’ current frontcourt almost 15 years later.
Siakam and Zubac now make up two-thirds of Indiana’s starting frontcourt. And Leonard, without ever playing for the Pacers, somehow helped make that possible.
In Other News...
Raptors Suddenly Face A Guard Depth Concern They Couldnt Afford
The Raptors had been keeping an eye on Walter Clayton Jr. as a possible way to firm up a backcourt that looked thin when the playoffs exposed how few reliable ball handlers they had. With Jamal Shead and Immanuel Quickley still set to carry most of the load, Torontos interest made sense as the kind of depth move that can quietly matter over a long season, especially when the players behind the top guards are still learning on the fly.
Now, according to Jake Fischer and Marc Stein, Clayton is likely to stick with Memphis after roster cuts, which takes one option off Torontos board for the moment. It leaves the Raptors still searching for guard insurance and a steadier answer behind their top two, a concern they could not really afford to let linger as they try to avoid being short-handed again when the games start to matter most. [Read more 🡒]
Clippers Letting Kawhi Tension Spill Into A Trade Standoff
The Clippers punishment in the NBA cap circumvention case tied to Kawhi Leonard has already reshaped the conversation around the league, and Toronto is still waiting for the dust to settle on the other side of the deal. Los Angeles lost five first-round picks and $30 million, while Leonard was fined $700,000 but avoided the sort of major discipline that might have altered the bigger picture for the Raptors and everyone else watching the transaction.
For Toronto, the trade has remained in limbo since the early part of the summer, even as the club has continued to believe it will eventually be completed as originally agreed. The Clippers say the delay stems from front office suspensions, but around the league there is a growing sense that the holdup has as much to do with the emotions surrounding the case as it does with procedure, leaving the Raptors to wait on a resolution they still expect to arrive. [Read more 🡒]
Gradey Dick Suddenly Faces A Real Clippers Roster Threat
The Kawhi Leonard trade has only just settled in, but it has already started to reshape the Clippers bench picture, and that matters for Toronto because Gradey Dick has suddenly been pulled into the conversation. Reports indicate Brandon Ingram is expected to stay put for now, while Dicks spot is less certain as Los Angeles sorts through the ripple effects of the deal and evaluates how to trim and rework the roster before camp hardens into the real season.
For the Raptors, the intrigue is not just whether Dick sticks with the Clippers, but what kind of movable piece he has become in that environment. His expiring contract gives Los Angeles a degree of flexibility, and the team could decide it is more useful in a future deal than as a locked-in part of the opening-night group. No final calls have been made yet, but the fact that his name is even in the mix shows how quickly one blockbuster can turn a young player's situation into a test of roster math. [Read more 🡒]