The Athletic: Kawhi’s heart never fully left Toronto. Now he’s going back to the Raptors

Kawhi Leonard didn’t play in Toronto last season, but did take time to hold a community event there.

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Kawhi Leonard did not play in the LA Clippers’ January game at Scotiabank Arena, the only time the Toronto Raptors had a chance to host the 2019 NBA Finals MVP last season. It was a surprise gameday downgrade that snapped a 24-game streak of starts for Leonard, the second-longest stretch of consecutive games Leonard played for the Clippers in seven seasons.

Before the game, Leonard walked into the locker room with a big coat on. After the Clippers overcame a 14-point deficit to beat the Raptors in overtime, Leonard was out of the locker room by the time the media arrived. Leonard wound up departing the road trip early, missing a back-to-back at the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls.

But it was not simply business as usual for Leonard. It was still an important trip to Canada, perhaps even a groundbreaking one. The day after the Clippers’ win, Leonard visited TAT Stadium in the Scarborough district of Toronto to host a free basketball clinic for the Boys and Girls Club. It was the first time Leonard held a community event in the area since the 2019 finals, and he was feted accordingly. The court was dedicated to Leonard with a mural of his series-ending buzzer-beater in the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers, with Toronto mayor Olivia Chow in attendance. All the kids got New Balance apparel to go with the tutelage. Then Leonard got on the microphone.

“Toronto is still in my heart,” Leonard said. “My son was born out here, so he’s Canadian. He’s from Canada, so we always talk about bringing him back and showing him where he was born.”

That wasn’t all that Leonard told the youth on this particular Saturday.

“I just wanted to, you know, leave a blueprint out here,” Leonard continued. “We’re going to continue to do things throughout Toronto, Scarborough, all the other areas, to help the youth. I hope you guys enjoy it. Like I said, this won’t be the last thing. I’ll be doing something else out here.”

Six months later, Leonard is going back to Canada. In a deal expected to be completed Monday, the Clippers agreed to send the 35-year-old Leonard to the Raptors in exchange for 28-year-old All-Star Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, a 2027 first-round pick swap, second- round picks in 2030 and 2033 and unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033. Oddly enough, it’s the second trade the Clippers made with Toronto involving a franchise icon this year following Chris Paul being sent to the Raptors at the February deadline so that he could be waived into retirement.

Compare that trade package to what the Raptors gave up eight years ago to acquire Leonard, Danny Green and cash considerations: 28-year-old All-Star DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a top-20 protected 2019 first-round pick that the San Antonio Spurs used to select Keldon Johnson. Relatively speaking, this is a haul for the Clippers.

Leonard discussed leaving a blueprint in Toronto. Well, the Clippers wouldn’t commit to paying James Harden, who always keeps a pulse on where the next bag and the best lane for winning could intersect. Harden provided the blueprint for Leonard’s exit by facilitating a trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers that sent Darius Garland and a late second-round pick that turned into Auburn commit Narcisse Ngoy to LA.

With Harden out, the Clippers had to sell high on mainstay center Ivica Zubac, who was never going to be more valuable than he was working with Harden for three seasons. LA found a buyer for its sky-high price on Zubac in the Indiana Pacers, sending Zubac and Kobe Brown in exchange for Isaiah Jackson, Bennedict Mathurin, a 2029 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick, and a chance at a 2026 first-round pick if it landed between No. 5 and 9. That pick wound up at No. 5, which the Clippers used to select Keaton Wagler.

It would have been comfortable for Leonard to simply end his career with the Clippers. The Moreno Valley native and San Diego State alum chose the Clippers in 2019 when many would have run it back with the defending champions. Leonard signed a second contract with the Clippers while recovering from surgery to repair a torn right ACL in 2021, a three-year deal that he said was to discourage any thought of him opting out after a season in which he was physically unable to perform.

Ironically, Leonard signed his third and final Clippers contract the morning of Jan. 10, 2024 — the day before a home game against the Raptors.

It will now be the Raptors who get the third and final year of that contract, in part because the Clippers were wary of giving Leonard a fourth deal. The last two seasons made it clear that Leonard was as healthy as he ever, and that they weren’t going to be the team that took advantage of his elite play.

Leonard got over the knee inflammation that wrecked his final season with George in 2024 and returned to action in January 2025, ultimately playing in a full seven-game series that spring for the first time since the 2021 Western Conference semifinals. Leonard played enough games to qualify for All-NBA consideration this past season and was an All-Star for Intuit Dome’s hosting of the 2026 festivities. But the Aspiration scandal and subsequent league investigation hovered over his final season in LA, and then the Clippers blew a double-digit fourth-quarter lead at home against the Golden State Warriors in the Play-In Tournament.

All this came after Leonard tried to take the blueprint of his championship season in Toronto to the Clippers. The load management plan that worked so well in Toronto was applied for the 2019-20 season in LA, with Leonard not playing a game on zero days’ rest. He was finally strong enough to play back-to-backs beginning in January 2021, although he was restricted again in 2022-23 and 2024-25. The Clippers wound up bringing in two of Leonard’s championship Raptors teammates early in Leonard’s tenure: Serge Ibaka in 2020 and Norman Powell in 2022. They were in lockstep with Leonard over the last seven years — sometimes to a fault.

In one season with the Raptors, Leonard won four playoff series and a ring. In seven seasons with the Clippers, Leonard won three playoff series, none in his last five years. LA couldn’t handle the 2020 bubble under Doc Rivers, Leonard was unable to play in the franchise’s lone Western Conference finals appearance in 2021 after an ACL tear, and his knee kept him from finishing any more playoff series with George as a teammate. The post-George Clippers did well to have two more winning seasons, but they couldn’t win a playoff series in 2025 with Leonard and Harden or survive the 2026 Play-In Tournament with Leonard and Garland.

What the Clippers have done is set the table for their next star. It didn’t work with Leonard, whether because of the wrong mix of players or bad health luck or a talent deficit. Now, they have future picks and a lack of significant long-term money on the books.

As for Leonard, he has his health. Leonard said after the Play-In Tournament loss that he felt like his body was “in a good place” despite some minor ankle and wrist injuries. Most notably, his surgically repaired knee isn’t a problem.

“I haven’t had any headaches with it the past two years,” Leonard said in April. “I feel great. Yeah, I feel good. So I want to keep going … As long as I got that desire, then I’m going to keep playing.”

His career will continue in a place that will celebrate him. And he can go back to Scarborough, back to Kawhi Leonard Court, and see a mantra he has used everywhere, from Moreno Valley

to Africa

: “You are stronger than you think.” After all Leonard went through in seven years with the Clippers, he can bring that saying into the Toronto locker room, especially now that he knows he will, in fact, be doing something else out there.

Law Murray

is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the NBA, based in Los Angeles. Law joined The Athletic in 2021 as a Clippers beat writer. Prior to joining The Athletic, he was an NBA editor at ESPN, a researcher at NFL Media and a contributor to DrewLeague.com and ClipperBlog. Law is from Philadelphia, Pa., and is a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California. When not playing basketball, Law is probably discussing the next Saturday Night Live episode. You can follow Law on X

@LawMurrayTheNU.