Toronto Loses their Star
The Raptors knew they had a limited window of opportunity when they traded for Kawhi Leonard. Leonard had made it known that he preferred to live in Los Angeles, so the Raptors had a remote chance of signing Kawhi once he became a free agent. They hoped a well-run organization and winning team would entice the moody superstar to stay in Canada, but he fled for Los Angeles to try and build a super team with Paul George and the Clippers.
I’m sure some Raptors fans will boo Kawhi when he comes back, but you can’t really blame him. He didn’t choose to go to Toronto and he got them a title. Toronto is also built around players on the wrong side of 30, so it made sense for Kawhi to join a younger and better cast in LA.
The Raptors front office will get a honeymoon after their title, but the champs lost some serious talent in the offseason and did little to replace it. In addition to All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard, the Raptors lost Danny Green to the other L.A. team. They also let Jeremey Lin, Eric Moreland and Jodie Meeks walk in an attempt to inject some youth into their roster.
The Raptors bought low on some younger players with upside in former Piston Stanley Johnson and Nets forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. They also signed guard Cameron Payne and forward Devin Robinson. They drafted Dewan Hernandez in the second round and signed a slew of undrafted rookies to throw some youth at the wall to see if it sticks.
Obviously replacing Leonard with Johnson is not going to get you back to the Finals, so this will be an interesting year for Toronto. They still have talent in veterans Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka and youngsters Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet, so the Raptors can run it back and see what happens.
Many expect them to trade their veterans for assets and a quick rebuild. The Raptors will be involved in a lot of rumors this year, especially if they start out slowly. Expect to hear Kyle Lowry’s name a lot, maybe even in Detroit.