Kawhi Leonard trade grades: Why Raptors reunion is worth the risk
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Kawhi Leonard left Toronto for LA in 2019. Seven years later, he's heading back north. Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images
By Zach HarperJune 30, 2026 Updated 7:22 pm EDTEverybody loves a reunion show, and that’s exactly what we’re getting seemingly out of nowhere with Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors have agreed to send Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two first-round picks (2031, 2033), a first-round pick swap (2027) and two second-round picks (2030, 2033) to the LA Clippers in exchange for Leonard. You may remember Leonard’s last stint in Toronto, when he spent one season there and delivered the Raptors franchise their only championship in 2019. Now Leonard will return seven years later to see if he can help get them back to the top of the Eastern Conference.
ESPN first reported that the deal was nearing completion. Is this reunion the right move for Leonard and the Raptors? What does this say for the direction of the Clippers? Let’s bust out the red ink and slap some grades on this trade.
Raptors acquire Kawhi Leonard
Would you have ever guessed that Leonard would be back on the Raptors? Until recently, that would have sounded like absolute nonsense. But with the Clippers unwilling to give him the extension he was looking for, Leonard had to get comfortable playing somewhere else. And by many accounts, he can find comfort in the idea of returning to Toronto. Leonard left Toronto immediately after winning that title to sign back home with the Clippers, but clearly, there is no ill will from either side here.
From a basketball standpoint, this makes sense … wait for it … as long as Leonard is healthy.
What a reunion with Kawhi means for the RaptorsEric Koreen and Jeshua KiddThe Raptors were average on offense last season, and shot-making came at a premium at times during their playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Leonard is coming off one of the best individual seasons of his career, which is saying something. In 65 games, he averaged a career-best 27.9 points per game, and he just missed out on a 50/40/90 season with 50.5/38.7/89.2 shooting splits. His 62.9 percent true shooting was the highest of his career, and Leonard’s accuracy from 3-point range will be highly welcomed for a team that was 21st in 3-point percentage. Defensively, pairing him with Scottie Barnes will create a monster duo. Leonard isn’t the Defensive Player of the Year he once was, but he still can guard anybody in front of him. That will allow Barnes to roam a lot more to create turnovers.
The question becomes about investing in a 35-year-old Leonard, who is willing to sign an extension with Toronto, league sources told The Athletic. That’s a lot of money for a guy who has missed as many games as he has. After leaving Toronto in 2019, his two healthiest seasons had him playing 68 and 65 games. The good news is that those happened in two of the last three seasons (he also missed just 15 games in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season).
The Raptors are going to have to approach Leonard’s availability very cautiously, in the hopes that he’ll be around for the playoff run in the Eastern Conference. Switching out Ingram for Leonard is an upgrade, and Ingram had his own injury issues. But he’s not 35. We know Leonard has a lot of mileage beyond what you’d expect from a 35-year-old player.
This is a risk for the Raptors, but it’s a good swing to take in an East that is the New York Knicks at the top and then a mess below.
Grade: B
Clippers acquire Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two first-rounders, first-round pick swap, two second-rounders
Ingram, 28, is coming off one of the best seasons, if not the best season, of his career. He was a healthy, productive and efficient All-Star. Ingram played 77 games and averaged 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists with 47.7/38.2/82.0 shooting splits. His 57.3 true shooting percentage is lower than Leonard’s last season, but still, it was a pretty efficient campaign. Ingram is just not the volume scorer and overwhelming force the Clippers were used to when Leonard was on the court. And this is the official shift of the Clippers from an era surrounding Leonard to a much younger team looking to be a perennial playoff squad in the West.
In the last couple of years, the Clippers have let Paul George walk to Philadelphia for nothing, swapped out James Harden for Darius Garland and moved Ivica Zubac for Bennedict Mathurin, a draft pick that became Keaton Wagler and another future pick. The Clippers never got to where they were looking to go — which was championship contention — in the Leonard era, and they won’t be any closer this time around. However, the Clippers are valuing youth, depth and future draft assets after mortgaging so much of that for the Leonard-George pairing.
If Ingram remains healthy (he missed 146 games in the previous four seasons), then he makes a pretty good pairing with Garland. No part of that duo, though, strikes fear into the hearts of the West. The Clippers have a lot more work to do. That’s where the picks will come in. Do they use that future pick from Indiana and these picks from Toronto for their own selections? Or will the Clippers end up trading those when a new star becomes available and Steve Ballmer is desperate to contend?
This isn’t an amazing haul, and the Clippers have taken a huge step back from what we saw in the previous few years. But it’s also not like they were actually contending then either. They just felt more dangerous because of what we’ve seen Leonard do in a postseason.
Ingram has $40 million coming to him this season and an option for $41.9 million in the 2027-28 season. It’s not a huge commitment by the Clippers, but it doesn’t give them full flexibility for next offseason. As for Dick, he was not good last season when the Raptors got serious about winning. The previous year, he showed a little promise on a bad team. He’s supposed to be a good outside shooter, but he’s just 34.3 percent for his three-year career. We’ll see if that potential gets realized soon.
Grade: C+
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Tagged To: Gradey DickBrandon IngramKawhi LeonardNBAToronto RaptorsFlorida woman claims cocaine found in her butt after arrest must’ve been from ‘intimate encounter’
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Florida woman claims cocaine found in her butt after arrest must’ve been from ‘intimate encounter’
By Daniel Cody Published June 30, 2026, 9:17 p.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.
Add The New York Post on GoogleA Florida woman picked up an extra felony charge when she wildly tried to smuggle nearly 4 grams of cocaine into a county jail through her “jail purse.”
Brevard County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Reagan Cox, 30, on Saturday for resisting arrest during a traffic stop. When she arrived at the Brevard County Jail staff noticed something abnormal with Cox’s “lower region” — or her “jail purse area if you will.”
Corrections deputies escorted Cox to a changing room, where she attempted “to shield” her buttock with her hand, authorities said.
When staff removed her hand, a baggie dropped to the floor containing 3.8 grams of cocaine.
“You really just can’t make this stuff up … butt you sure can try as this one puts the ole … ’those are not my pants’ excuse to shame!!” wrote the sheriff’s office in a statement on Facebook.
Cox denied knowing about the cocaine and told deputies that someone must have placed it there during an “intimate encounter,” according to the statement.
She received an additional charge for bringing contraband into a detention facility — and was released from custody the same day.
“Folks, if not realizing that someone left cocaine in your ‘Jail Purse’ is not a good enough reminder to not do drugs, then I don’t know what is!!” clinched the sheriff’s office statement.
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‘Off the Table’—One Potential Vinicius Junior Transfer Spot Ruled Out
‘Off the Table’—One Potential Vinicius Junior Transfer Spot Ruled Out
The winger’s future at Real Madrid is anything but certain. Amanda Langell|
Should Vinicius Junior inch closer to a Real Madrid exit, the Brazilian will have clubs all over Europe knocking on his door—but Chelsea will reportedly not be joining in on the potential transfer race.
Vinicius Jr, whose current deal with Los Blancos expires at the end of next season, has made little progress in securing a contract extension. Talks began in January 2025 but have long since reached an impasse over salary disagreements.
It goes without saying that clubs are keeping a close eye on the winger’s situation and could be prompted into action if Vinicius Jr decides to leave the Spanish capital for a fresh start elsewhere. The Premier League remains an attractive destination, but not all of the ‘Big Six’ are interested.
MARCA report a move to Chelsea is “completely off the table” after Vinicius Jr’s public falling out with Xabi Alonso, who is the Blues’ new manager following the departure of Liam Rosenior. The west London outfit was once interested in the Brazil international, but that interest no longer exists now that Alonso is in charge.
The Moment Everything Changed for Vinicius Jr and Alonso
There were murmurings of potential tension between Vinicius Jr and Alonso during the early months of the manager’s tenure at the Bernabéu. The Spaniard made Vinicius Jr earn his place on the left wing, his home since he made the move to the Spanish capital, and benched him for matches he would normally start.
The simmering feud between the two reached a boiling point in October during Real Madrid’s 2–1 victory over Barcelona. Alonso took Vinicius Jr out of the game in the 72nd minute, prompting the forward to lose his cool and storm down the tunnel while his teammates still battled on the pitch.
Vinicius Jr later publicly apologized to the club, the fans and his teammates, but left out his manager. Reports then emerged that the No. 7 would not sign a new contract while Alonso was in charge.
When the former Bayer Leverkusen boss eventually lost his job in January, Vinicius Jr was one of the only players not to send him well wishes on social media. There was clearly no love lost between the two, and it comes as no surprise they would not want to work together again in the future, even if the opportunity arose.
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Where Vinicius Jr Stands With Real Madrid
Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez previously vocalized his desire to lock down Vinicius Jr and keep the Brazilian in a white shirt for years to come. “There’s time,” he said when asked about renewing his superstar back in May.
“I’d love for him to stay forever. He’s won us the last two Champions Leagues, and he identifies really well with the club. You know who doesn’t like him? Those who aren’t Real Madrid fans.”
Vinicius Jr has also expressed how much he wants to stay at the Bernabéu, and reports claim he already ruled out any potential transfer this summer. Yet the 25-year-old has seemingly not budged on his salary demands, the one thing keeping him from pledging more than next season to Real Madrid.
He wants to rake in a historic $34.2 million (€30 million) per season, but the club is reluctant to adhere to such demands, which would make Vinicius Jr the highest-paid player on the team. For a deal to be struck, one of the parties will have to compromise—or else a race is coming to snatch the 2024 Ballon d’Or runner-up one he becomes a free agent next summer.
READ THE LATEST REAL MADRID NEWS, ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT FROM SI FC
Published 2 minutes ago | Modified 2 minutes ago
AMANDA LANGELLAmanda Langell is a Sports Illustrated FC freelance writer and editor. Born and raised in New York City, her first loves were the Yankees, the Rangers and Broadway before Real Madrid took over her life. Had it not been for her brother’s obsession with Cristiano Ronaldo, she would have never lived through so many magical Champions League nights 3,600 miles away from the Bernabéu. When she’s not consumed by Spanish and European soccer, she’s traveling, reading or losing her voice at a concert.
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