Toronto Raptors: Looking back on the Kawhi Leonard trade on one-year anniversary

Masai Ujiri pulled off the biggest trade in Toronto Raptors history one year ago today when he acquired Kawhi Leonard and the rest, as they say, is history.

It was the Woj bomb that changed the fortunes of the Toronto Raptors in a way nobody in the NBA anticipated.

When ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that the Raptors had agreed to a trade for Kawhi Leonard, there was a lot of mixed emotions among fans, players on the team and most importantly DeMar DeRozan.

Masai Ujiri was taking the biggest gamble of his career trading for a superstar player who lost truth with the San Antonio Spurs and was looking to get moved to Los Angeles. Toronto was letting go of a fan favourite who remained loyal to the team in exchange for a player who didn’t expect to be heading to Canada.

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In the end, the Raptors got exactly what they wanted winning their first NBA championship and although it was a one and done with Kawhi, it is hard to be dissatisfied with how everything ended. You rarely see a trade pay off immediately for a franchise and you can bet they would do all over again.

Going through the “load management” process and seeing what it takes to try and convince Leonard to stay will hopefully provide the team with a blueprint if they plan on doing something similar in the future.

Let’s be honest here, many of you will be rewatching the game-winning shot from Game 7 and the moment the team clinched the championship for years to come. Those memories don’t go anywhere and neither does the history that comes with it.

If there is one thing the Raptors accomplished along with winning a championship it’s that this city and country were craving the opportunity to celebrate a title. What made the celebration even sweeter was knowing how much people doubted Toronto’s chances to win it all.

While there was the constant chatter around Leonard’s future, just seeing Toronto getting on the media map in the U.S. especially during the Finals was something to behold.

For once, the conversation wasn’t about the team’s inability to get over the hump in the post-season. Instead, it was about the incredible performance from Kawhi and players around him like Danny Green, Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry, heck even Danny Green and Marc Gasol.

The championship parade was the cherry on top of the cake and while the feeling might have soured a bit with Leonard’s decision to leave, nobody else on the Raptors feels that way. Nick Nurse’s comments should give fans confidence when it comes to the mindset of the organization going forward.

"“Listen, I approach it from this standpoint: we got some guys that will need to expand roles that they wouldn’t have had to, but I think we got guys that are capable of that,” Nurse explained on Sportsnet’s Prime Time Sports. “I preach ball movement. I think the assisted basket is still our goal. It’s really the only thing that stands up in the playoffs. I think aggressive defence, I think playing a lot of people throughout the regular season, changing defences, being really good late game. None of that stuff changes for me. I think that’s what we want our team to be and we go from there.“Now, listen, you can say [Leonard] made a lot of big buckets and he was clutch in the late game and all that kind of stuff but we’re gonna have to develop that from somewhere else.”"

It’s crazy what a year does for a team and while it might have been a shortlived era of success, it would be hard to find people who wouldn’t want to go through it again.

Next. Masai Ujiri provides much-needed optimism on Kawhi’s departure. dark

What are your thoughts on the Kawhi Leonard trade after a year? Do you wish things have gone differently? Let us know in the comments below.

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