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Los Angeles Lakers: Kawhi Leonard being traded to Toronto is great for LA

By Jason Reed

SACRAMENTO, CA - OCTOBER 27: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the San Antonio Spurs looks on from the bench against the Sacramento Kings during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game at Golden 1 Center on October 27, 2016 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA - OCTOBER 27: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the San Antonio Spurs looks on from the bench against the Sacramento Kings during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game at Golden 1 Center on October 27, 2016 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Lakers and Kawhi Leonard seemed like a match made in heaven. However, Gregg Popovich did not think so and traded Leonard to the Raptors.

Just when baseball trade rumors started to heat up, the NBA comes in with arguably the biggest trade of the summer. The San Antonio Spurs reportedly agreed to trade Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors for a package that includes DeMar DeRozan, taking the Los Angeles Lakers permanently out of the equation.

Leonard, along with Danny Green, are heading to Toronto in exchange for DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round pick.

Say what you will about the trade package — I do not think this is good for Toronto — but the Los Angeles Lakers will have to wait and hope that Leonard still wants to be a Laker after spending a season in Toronto.

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Luckily for the Lakers, Leonard went to the perfect team for Los Angeles. If any team was going to get Leonard besides the Lakers, the Raptors were the best-case scenario.

If Leonard was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers it would be a completely different story. Although Leonard still seems adamant about playing in Los Angeles, Leonard in Philadelphia would have likely catapulted the 76ers to the NBA Finals.

From there, who knows what Leonard may have been thinking. We saw it with Paul George this summer; Leonard may have fallen in love with Philly and signed a supermax extension there, instead.

Another scary destination for the Lakers was across the Staples Center to the Los Angeles Clippers. Although the Clippers are not in the same contending status as the Lakers, Leonard would have gotten his wish to go to LA and could have battled LeBron James after the Clippers extended him to the supermax.

The Toronto Raptors, though, pose no real threat to signing Leonard long-term. While this does not guarantee that Leonard will join the Lakers, it certainly takes the five-year super max out of the equation.

First and foremost, Toronto is not a great free agent destination. It is going to be very hard for the Raptors to sell the city of Toronto over Leonard’s hometown Los Angeles.

Second of all, the Raptors have no long-term security, which is going to keep a superstar like Leonard away. DeRozan was the long-term piece and if he was still in the equation then maybe the Raptors would have a good pitch.

However, that is not the case. The only players locked down past the 2019 season are Norman Powell and OG Anunoby. Having Leonard there increases the chances of Kyle Lowry re-signing, but both Lowry and power forward Serge Ibaka are past their primes.

Quite frankly, the window of title contention on this team is two years, at most. Unless the Raptors can somehow bring in another superstar, they simply will not have a good enough supporting cast to convince Leonard to stay in a city he did not want to be in to begin with.

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Thus, the chances of the Raptors doing what the Oklahoma City did to George are slim next summer. This is great news for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

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