If the Toronto Raptors end up finalizing a trade that will send DeMar DeRozan and other assets to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard, they may be doing so without any assurances that Leonard will play for them for more than one season.
Multiple reports indicate that the Raptors and Spurs are near the finish line on a deal that would see Leonard and DeRozan swap teams, and both Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports and ESPN’s Chris Haynes have been told that Leonard has “no desire” to play in Toronto.
Kawhi Leonard has no desire to play in Toronto, league source tells ESPN.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 18, 2018
According to Haynes and his ESPN colleague Adrian Wojnarowski, Leonard still plans to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers when he becomes a free agent next summer.
For what it’s worth, we saw the Oklahoma City Thunder take a huge risk last year when they traded for Paul George despite George publicly expressing his interest in playing for the Lakers. George ended up signing a max contract extension with the Thunder this offseason, so the Raptors could be hoping they can convince Leonard to remain in Toronto.
Even if the Leonard trade ends up falling through because of the star forward’s refusal to commit long-term, DeRozan has made it clear that the Raptors will have some serious damage control to do.
