The Toronto Raptors have already packed a lot into this offseason, and the ripple effects go well beyond the headline move. The return of Kawhi Leonard changes the entire feel of the roster, but it also creates a clear set of beneficiaries and a few players who suddenly have a tougher road ahead.
Leonard is the biggest name in the mix, and he looks like one of the NBA’s major winners this summer. He’s coming off a season in which he put up 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game while shooting over 50 per cent from the field and 38.7 per cent from deep at age 34.
Even with that production, the Clippers finished 42-40, landed in the 9-seed in the Western Conference and then lost to the Warriors in the first round of the play-in, missing the playoffs entirely. Now Leonard is back with a Raptors team that was 15 minutes away from a playoff series win over the Cleveland Cavaliers and, with him in the fold, looks a lot more dangerous in what appears to be an open Eastern Conference.
Another clear winner is Mamukelashvili, even though his path took him out of Toronto. The Lakers gave him a four-year deal worth $52M, and that comes with both money and opportunity. He’ll be playing next to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, and with the Lakers losing Rui Hachimura to the Clippers and LeBron James appearing to be gone as well, Mamukelashvili has a much cleaner route to minutes than he had with the Raptors.
There’s also a case for Dick as someone who could benefit from a reset. He lost minutes over the past few seasons in Toronto, so a fresh start may be exactly what he needs.
The catch is that he was basically a throw-in in the Kawhi Leonard trade, and he now has to pick up a new system. He also doesn’t look like part of the Clippers’ long-term plan, which means even if things go well, there’s a real chance he’s on the move again.
On the other side of the ledger, the Raptors’ frontcourt additions make life harder for a couple of players who had reason to think their roles might grow. Jamison Battle flashed real promise as a bench shooter during the playoffs, even with a limited role.
Jackson-Davis also seemed to have a better opening after Mamukelashvili’s emergence had already complicated his path to minutes. But Toronto has now added Leonard, Allen Graves and Kyle Anderson to the frontcourt, while Brandon Ingram was sent to the Clippers in the Leonard trade.
Scottie Barnes is still there, and the rise of Collin Murray-Boyles only adds to the congestion. That leaves Battle and Jackson-Davis looking like the odd men out.
In Other News...
NBA Just Gave Pacers Fans Another Reason To Question The League
The NBAs latest enforcement push has put a familiar sore spot back in the spotlight, and it is one that Raptors fans know well from years of watching the league police team behavior unevenly. Indiana and Utah were both fined under the Player Participation Policy, with the Pacers and Jazz each cited for actions the league said crossed the line into conduct detrimental to the league, a reminder that the rules around rest and availability can still feel murky even when the penalties are not.
For Toronto, the broader issue is less about one specific fine than the pattern it reinforces. The league has long invited scrutiny whenever it decides to draw a hard line on roster management, and the conversation inevitably circles back to how selectively those lines seem to be enforced across markets and situations. The Pacers case adds another example to that pile, and it leaves plenty of room for the same old question about whether the NBA is applying the standard evenly. [Read more 🡒]
Collin Murray-Boyles Could Change Everything For The Raptors Frontcourt
The Raptors have spent the offseason trying to patch a frontcourt that lost one of its better shooting options when Sandro Mamukelashvili departed, and that makes the development of Collin Murray-Boyles especially important. Toronto already added Allen Graves, whose college 3-point numbers were encouraging, but the bigger swing for this group is whether Murray-Boyles can stretch his game enough to fit into a more modern, flexible rotation.
Coaches sound optimistic that he can keep expanding his range while bringing the versatility that already earned trust in high-leverage moments. If that progress shows up, it could change how Toronto builds around its bigs, especially with the frontcourt minutes likely to be shaped by both development and availability as the season unfolds. [Read more 🡒]