The Kawhi Leonard trade is still not official.
The Clippers and Raptors agreed to a deal in July that would send Leonard to Toronto in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 first-round pick swap, and two second-round picks. Kawhi wants the trade to happen before Toronto’s training camp opens in late September. He might not get his wish.
The whole thing is stuck because of an NBA investigation into whether the Clippers circumvented the salary cap. The specific allegation involves a now-bankrupt company called Aspiration and payments that may have been directed to Leonard outside of his standard contract. Until the league clears that up, the trade cannot be processed.
Kawhi himself has told people he expects the deal to go through before camp. That is optimistic. Multiple insiders have suggested resolution might not come until mid-September at the NBA Board of Governors meeting, or even end of September when training camps actually start.
The situation is bad for everyone involved.
The Clippers are stuck with a player who does not want to be there and cannot really plan the roster around him. Kawhi has only one year left on his deal at $50.3 million. If the trade collapses and he stays in LA, the Clippers are back to running it back with a group that Kawhi has already checked out of mentally.
Toronto is stuck in limbo. The Raptors moved Brandon Ingram in expectation of the deal, then had to plan for a roster that includes Kawhi in some scenarios and does not include him in others. Head coach Darko Rajakovic has to prepare training camp without knowing who his best player will actually be.
Kawhi himself has to sit and wait. He wants to return to the city where he won a title in 2019, wants a fresh start, and wants to prove he is still an All-NBA player. Instead he is stuck watching the NBA investigate his own team, with his career on hold until the league finishes its work.
The trade itself is a fair one for both sides. The Raptors get an elite talent, even at 34, with the understanding that his health is always the question. The Clippers get real draft capital and Ingram, who is a legitimate top-25 offensive player when he is on. If the deal goes through as agreed, both teams walk away better than they were.
The investigation is the wild card. If the NBA finds real evidence of cap circumvention, the Clippers could face penalties that would prevent the trade entirely or force different compensation. Steve Ballmer’s team has denied any wrongdoing, and the league has not signaled where it is leaning.
For Toronto fans, this whole thing has been a slow-motion tease. The Raptors have not been to the Finals since Leonard led them there, and the emotional pull of getting him back is real. But every day the trade sits unfinished is a day where the whole thing could still collapse.
September is going to be tense in a lot of directions. The trade has to close before camp for either team to plan anything real. If it does not, this becomes a franchise-defining problem for both organizations.
Kawhi is one of the most talented players in the sport when he is on. Right now, he is in NBA purgatory.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
