{"id":772466,"date":"2026-07-01T03:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T03:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/772466\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T03:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T03:20:13","slug":"report-raptors-sending-clippers-two-first-round-picks-two-players-in-kawhi-leonard-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/772466\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Raptors sending Clippers two first-round picks, two players in Kawhi Leonard trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kawhi Leonard<\/a> is headed back to the Toronto Raptors<\/a> after they struck a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> to reunite with the player who led their run to the 2019 NBA championship, a person with knowledge of the talks told The Associated Press on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

With the deal getting finalized, the Raptors will sign Leonard to a two-year max extension, Sportsnet\u2019s Michael Grange reported<\/a> Tuesday. As a veteran of 10-plus seasons, he is eligible for 35 per cent of the projected $173.5 million salary cap in 2027-28. Therefore, he would make $60.6 million in 2026-27 and $65.5 million in 2028-29 for a total of $126.1 million in new money.<\/p>\n

The price is hefty. Shams Charania of ESPN, who first reported the proposed deal, said the Clippers will acquire Brandon Ingram<\/a>, Gradey Dick<\/a>, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a pick swap in 2027 and two second-round picks.<\/p>\n

The first-round picks present potential risk for the Raptors, as they will come when the 35-year-old Leonard is likely retired and all-star Scottie Barnes is nearing the end of his prime.<\/p>\n

And the oft-injured Leonard has never played more than 74 games in a season and missed the entire 2021-22 campaign.<\/p>\n

But the Raptors showed last season they are on the verge of being competitive after taking the favoured Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in the first round of playoffs.<\/p>\n

Leonard averaged 27.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.4 blocks per game last season for Los Angeles in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

He joins a team that includes Barnes, Canadian swingman RJ Barrett, talented rookie Collin Murray-Boyles, point guard Immanuel Quickley and young rotation pieces Jamal Shead and Ja’Kobe Walter.<\/p>\n

Leonard is a seven-time All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection, a two-time NBA champion (also having won in 2014 with San Antonio) and is generally considered one of the game’s top defensive players.<\/p>\n

He was the central player in the Raptors’ 2019 championship run, including a climactic buzzer beater to win Game 7 of Toronto’s Eastern Conference semifinal against the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n

He signed with his hometown Clippers as a free agent that off-season, agreeing to a three-year, US$103 million contract.<\/p>\n

After opting out of the final year of that contract, Leonard re-signed with the Clippers in August 2021 to a max four-year, $176.3 million contract with the fourth year being a player option. He missed the entire 2021-22 season, however, with a partial ACL tear in his right knee.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

That contract has become embroiled in controversy after allegations emerged in September 2025 that Leonard signed a $28 million “no-show” endorsement deal with Aspiration, an environmental company that entered bankruptcy in March 2025 after co-founder Joe Sanberg was arrested and charged with fraud.<\/p>\n

The alleged deal did not require any action on Leonard’s part, other than remaining with the Clippers.<\/p>\n

\u2014 With files from Sportsnet Staff and The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kawhi Leonard is headed back to the Toronto Raptors after they struck a deal with the Los Angeles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-772466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}