When more than two months of patience bolstered by carefully calibrated confidence was finally rewarded, the excitement that ran through the Toronto Raptors organization was palpable.
Weeks of cautious optimism suddenly gave way to elation shortly after Los Angeles Clippers general manager Trent Redden reached out to Bobby Webster, his Toronto Raptors counterpart, to (finally) complete the trade they had agreed on back on June 30. It had been in limbo since July 9, when the Raptors paused the trade until the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers' salary-cap circumvention scheme was completed.
Internally, the Raptors never wavered in the belief that the trade — sending Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two future first-round picks (2031 and ’33), two future second-round picks and a 2027 first-round pick swap in return for superstar Kawhi Leonard — would unfold as initially planned.
But it took a while.
Even when the results of the investigation were announced on Sept. 2 and it was clear the finding would have no impact on Leonard’s availability this season — which the Raptors had been expecting all along — there was still more waiting.
With owner Steve Ballmer and top two-ranking team officials facing league suspensions, the Clippers briefly went dark as they tried to sort through what — if any — response they might make to the league’s punishment, and who would emerge as their top basketball decision-maker.
After nearly two weeks of deliberation and threats of legal action, Ballmer’s statement Sunday night that he would accept the NBA’s decision rather than fight the $30 million fine, multiple suspensions to team staff and the loss of five future first-round draft picks signalled the process was moving toward a conclusion.
A call from Redden to Webster on Monday confirmed the trade was back on. That was followed by a call with the NBA’s league office to finalize it later that night, and the Raptors officially announced the trade just after 9 p.m. ET.
It took the edge off the NBA’s board of governors meetings, which took place Monday and Tuesday in Manhattan.
One of the league’s big regrets regarding their nearly year-long investigation into the Clippers funnelling extra millions to Leonard via phony endorsement deals was that it was overshadowing so many other positive developments: a championship Knicks team, the emergence of Victor Wembanyama as a generational star, the depth of competition across the league, the arrival of the highly anticipated 2026 draft class and momentum building towards expansion, to name a few.
But NBA commissioner Adam Silver did everything thing he could to put the Clippers investigation into the league’s rearview on Tuesday in his first public comments since the league’s report was published.
“Most importantly, he indicated a willingness to accept the league’s decision in this case and the accompanying findings,” Silver said, referring to Ballmer’s statement, which fell short of an admission of guilt, but was at least an acknowledgment that the league had the right to take the steps they did and an about-face from his first reaction to the league’s findings and penalties. “I appreciate the fact that he stood down, that he did apologize and is accepting responsibility. Our plan is to move forward and we have every reason to believe that at (after his one-year suspension) he will return to be an owner in good standing.”
And as for Leonard, who many believe got off lightly by only having to pay a $700,000 fine even though he received more than $20 million in benefits?
Silver chose not to elaborate on the process that preceded Leonard’s punishment, other than saying: “(NBPA executive director) David Kelly represented his player well.”
A nod, perhaps, to the role the player’s union played in protecting Leonard’s interests and using the threat of a long and drawn-out arbitration process that would drag the matter into next season as leverage.
The commissioner added that the league’s punishments are "final" and thus not subject to any reductions as the league has done in the past, and that he (Silver) sat down with Leonard recently as well.
"I think we all agree it’s time to move forward here," said Silver.
All that remains now is what Leonard might say regarding the entire matter.
Does he have any regrets about leaving the Raptors for Los Angeles in the first place?
Were the off-court benefits that he received from the Clippers critical in his decision to leave?
There’s no guarantee that the typically tight-lipped Leonard will shed any light on those matters, but locally we will get a chance to ask him those questions next week when the Raptors open training camp.
From a basketball point of view, no one is more excited about the so-called 'Clippers saga' moving slowly to the back burner and basketball moving up front than the Raptors, who can now go all in in preparing to make sure their window of competitiveness with a 35-year-old Leonard back on the roster is as wide open and long-lasting as possible.
Leonard has been around the team, doing informal individual workouts, but until the trade was official wasn’t able to take part in any broader activities. Doubtless head coach Darko Rajakovic is eager to begin the 'get to know you' process as quickly as possible, with everything starting in earnest next Tuesday in Quebec City where the Raptors will have their training camp.
Whether it all ends up as wildly successful as it was back in 2019 when he led the Raptors to an NBA title while winning the Finals MVP award in his one season before he took off for the Clippers remains to be seen.
As promising as the Raptors lineup is — with Scottie Barnes just rounding into what could be all-NBA form, youngsters like Ja'Kobe Walter, Collin Murray-Boyles and Jamal Shead developing into rotation-ready players, and veterans Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl — it was a youngish 46-win team last season, not an experienced 59-win roster like the one Leonard joined back in the summer of 2018.
In the short term, the Raptors have to hope that their chance to have Leonard as the focal point of their lineup lasts longer than just this one season. Doubtless his pending contract extension will run two years after the last year of his current deal is up, which should keep him in Toronto through his Age 37 season.
There are reasonable questions that Leonard — who has missed 44 per cent of his team's regular-season games over the past nine years — can hold up physically long enough for the Raptors to make another championship run, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, and there was no clear path to adding another player of Leonard’s calibre, so roll them bones.
With the investigation closed, the NBA's commissioner signing off on it, the trade official and training camp less than a week away, the Raptors and Leonard can finally get on with the business of winning basketball games.
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