The Klaw is heading north.
After months of uncertainty surrounding the deal, Kawhi Leonard is set to return to the Toronto Raptors seven years after leaving the franchise he helped lead to its first NBA championship.
After the debacle surrounding the Clippers delayed everything, Toronto is finally getting its former Finals MVP back.
And I’ll say something I’ve believed for years: Kawhi Leonard should have never left Toronto in the first place.
The Place Where Kawhi Reached the Mountaintop
Leonard spent only one season in Toronto, but what a season it was. The Raptors acquired him in 2018 with no guarantee he would stay beyond that year. Eleven months later, Toronto was celebrating an NBA championship while Leonard held his second Finals MVP trophy.
Then he left.
Leonard wanted to return home to Southern California, and it’s difficult to criticize someone for making a personal decision like that. But purely from a basketball perspective, I’ve always wondered what could have happened had he stayed.
Toronto had already proven it could build a championship roster around him. The organization had quality coaching, depth, defense and an entire city that embraced its superstar.
Now, seven years later, Kawhi is coming back to where he experienced arguably the greatest season of his career.
Toronto Just Became Much Better
Let’s make something clear: Kawhi Leonard is 35 years old. Toronto isn’t getting the 2019 version of Kawhi.
But they’re still getting a damn good basketball player.
Leonard just averaged a career-high 27.9 points per game across 65 appearances last season. When he’s available, he remains an incredibly efficient scorer who can create his own shot and impact the game defensively.
Now put him alongside Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, and Toronto suddenly becomes a much more interesting team in the Eastern Conference.
The Raptors already made significant progress last season, and adding Leonard gives them something every playoff team wants: a proven superstar who has already performed on the biggest stage.
But I’m Not Picking Toronto to Win the East
This is where I’m stopping short of the hype.
Do I think Toronto will be much improved? Absolutely.
Do I have them winning the Eastern Conference?
No.
Kawhi makes Toronto dangerous, but this isn’t 2019. He’s seven years older, durability remains something Toronto will have to manage, and the Raptors gave up significant assets to bring him back.
There’s also a difference between becoming a legitimate playoff threat and becoming the best team in the conference.
I expect Toronto to be considerably better. I expect them to be a difficult matchup in a playoff series. And if Kawhi is healthy when April arrives, they’re exactly the kind of team a higher seed won’t want to see.
But I’m not ready to crown them.
One More Run in Toronto
There’s something strangely fitting about Kawhi’s career bringing him back here.
Toronto took a massive gamble on Leonard in 2018. Leonard rewarded that gamble by producing one of the greatest postseason runs in franchise history and delivering Canada its first NBA championship.
He left immediately afterward, spent the next seven seasons in Los Angeles, and now he’s returning to the place where everything worked.
Maybe there isn’t another championship waiting this time.
Maybe there is.
But regardless of what happens next, seeing Kawhi Leonard wearing Toronto colors again is going to feel right.
The Raptors aren’t suddenly my pick to win the East.
But they just became a hell of a lot more interesting.
The Klaw is heading north again.
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