This time next year he will be a Laker

So much for DeRozan avoiding LeBron in the playoffs.

More mid range to the Spurs, that'll help in the West.

Asked on Twitter but let's immortalise a dumb question here: can Toronto immediately deal Kawhi on to the Lakers? Word is that Kawhi doesn’t want to be at the Raptors, so surely the well-regarded Raptors GM president isn’t just throwing away a piece, and someone who was committed to Toronto as well. I suspect there’s more to it.

Sucked in to Kawhi. He thought he could orchestrate a trade to the Lakers now meaning when he becomes a FA next year they would be able to offer him around $40M more than any other team. Now he has to sign with them as a FA and leave that money on the table in Toronto.

DeRozan isn't that great but a pretty good get for the Spurs given the position Kawhi put them in.

Lewenberg:

No Raptors player has ever embraced the city of Toronto, country of Canada, or the organization like DeRozan. This is a business & sometimes tough/unpopular decisions have to be made, but hard to fathom losing him for a guy that (reportedly) has 0 interest in playing for the team

Sources close to DeRozan told ESPN's Chris Haynes that DeRozan met with Toronto brass in Las Vegas during summer league and was told he would not be traded.

There was talk after the Raptors got knocked out of the playoffs that they really wanted to break up the team and especially trade DeRozan but felt he would be to hard to trade so sacked Casey instead.

It's a great trade for Toronto Kawhi will obviously leave but it gets them out of the 3 years that were left on DeRozan's big money contract.

Sad for DeRozan if he is traded..but he should see it as a silver lining if its to the Spurs. He could improve his game and really take it to the top tier of SF's with Durant and LBJ. Scary what he could become.

Hopefully Kawhi has to ride out a year in Toronto; he deserves at least that the way he has carried on.

Couldn't they have got something more for DDR than a year of half-arsed Kawhi though?

Woj just now:

Toronto has reached agreement in principle to acquire San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard for package that includes DeMar DeRozan, league sources tell ESPN. Trade is larger on both sides, and players are still being informed of their inclusion in the deal. Trade call with league today.

As a Raptors fan I'm disappointed.

DDR has some issues that mean he really doesn't suit the current NBA, but he is an all star level talent who wanted to be in Toronto. That was something.

All they've done is at best give the team a slightly better chance to get smashed by gsw in the finals. Kawhi doesn't want to be there. He has injury concerns (and potentially attitude concerns) and will walk in a year.

If we've given away OG it goes from a bad deal to a disaster.

Part of an ESPN story:

Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri is taking a significant risk in pursuing the trade. Ujiri will make the deal with a determination that he can sell Leonard on re-signing with the Raptors next summer in free agency, sources said. Toronto would be able to offer Leonard a five-year, $190 million contract next summer. If Leonard left the Raptors, he could sign a four-year, $141 million deal with a team with the available salary-cap space.

Leonard has been clear that he plans to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency next summer.

The criticism of KD wasn't so much that he quit on OKC but that he jumped ship to the team who defeated him and pitched it as a great challenge. Also, I think it's spelled "snek"?

Woj:

Spurs have agree to trade Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round pick, league sources tell ESPN. Trade call with league office is starting shortly.

Source: Toronto's first-round pick to San Antonio is protected 1-20. After one year, it becomes two second-round picks.

Here is the contract breakdown for the main principles in the Toronto and San Antonio trade: Kawhi Leonard has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $20.1M and $21.3M. The second year is a player option that Leonard is likely to opt-out of. Leonard has a 15% trade bonus of $3M that will be added to his 2018-19 salary. The Spurs will be responsible for paying the bonus but the $23.1M cap hit will count against the cap for the Raptors. Leonard is extension eligible 6 months after the trade for a contract of four years, $108. The Raptors will inherit his bird rights and can sign him to a five year, $189.6M (starting salary of $32.7M) contract in the summer of 2019 when he is a free agent. Signing with a team that has cap space would see Leonard receive a contract of four years, $140.6M. Because of the trade, Leonard is not super max eligible to receive a contract of $221M. In essence, the forward could lose $80M from this trade if he signs with a new team next summer. DeMar DeRozan is under contract through the 2020-21 season with a cap hit of $27.7M for each season. The guard has a player option for the 2020-21 season.

Going to be interesting to see how Kawhi approaches this year. Will he be fully committed or will he just go through the motions to get to LA?

Also there's no guarantee that the Lakers will pursue him next year. They may want to go after Klay?

I'm happy with this.

Kawhi wanted to leave, so nabbing a 4 time all star is a reasonable outcome.

Poetl has potential. Him, Murray, and Walker gives us 3 players who look like they could develop into quality players.

Spurs well and truly right in the mix for a home playoff series in the first round.

For Toronto, a risky trade. Obvious upside, but downside appears more likely.

Of course, still possible they move Kawhi elsewhere before the trade deadline.

While I'm dissapointed to lose Poetl (I was hoping we could move JV and have Potel as starting C) I'm glad we didn't lose OG or Siakam, or even Wright.

If the Raptors go into the season with more or less who is on board now, they'll have something different to what they've ever had before - multiple wings who can shoot the long ball and play D. Kawhi, Green, OG. We've finally got a team that has multiple options to defend LeBron...now that it is no longer really a factor.

I still think this ends up in Leonard walking in 12 months, but it could be an interesting season.

Man you rarely see the Spurs make a bad call. RC Buford and Pop are wizards.

Even when you think they have their backs against the wall, they come out OK (Lamarcus Aldridge; Kawhi trade; the Kawhi pick/trade; keeping the big 3 as long as they did etc). Mistakes are always going to be made; but I think they've clearly made the most right calls out of any team over the past 20 years.

Love this for the Spurs as you you just added an All NBA level player to a 47 win team! in which Kwahi never played for and Green was very avg.

Poeltl will be a solid NBA rotation player but he helps make the money work.

Raptors taking a risk but they probably wanted off Derozens money anyway so worse case Kwahi walks and they still have a young core with cap space ready to reboot quickly with the right trades/picks.

Lakers shouldn't be so arrogant to think Kwahi will come Ballmer & West know how to make a deal.

Also gotta love the "oh you want LA, enoy the coldest place in the NBA Toronto!" and he just lost about $1mil from his pay in extra taxes a year!

Kawhi played 9 games - I don't think the spurs are a 47 win team without kawhi.

Roster at the moment with DeMar is probably a 42-48 win team

Toronto in winter does suck. I've done 1 winter in nearby Ottawa and that was enough for me to know I never want to do that again. I think Kawhi will be the same.

@KET - The spurs won 47 games last season without Kwahi...surely adding another all NBA level talent would at worse have them be around the same mark or slightly better at over 50 wins.

Its a win-win for both teams IMO...

Spurs get an all-star in DeRozan whilst at 27 now is in his peak years he could still improve under Pop.

Toronto get a rental in Kawhi and if he signs on (unlikely) then great, if he doesn't then you got options. You can use the cap space your saving to bring in another star, or you can trade Lowry and commence rebuild.

Toronto were not going anywhere with DeRozan (even with LeBron leaving the East), Boston & Philly are looking to be the two teams to beat in the East next season, and dont sleep on the Bucks, I think the Lopez deal is going to make them a tough team to beat this season too.

A bit of Kawhi Leonard news.

1. Like LeBron did Kawhi has now decided to skip the USA Basketball mini-camp this week under new Team USA coach Gregg Popovich.

2. Kawhi has passed his physical in Toronto making the trade official.

3. Jordan Brand are going to let Kawhi leave his shoe deal after he declined a 4 year $22M extension earlier this year.

With Pop as coach it has to be highly unlikely he will play for team USA.

@KET - The spurs won 47 games last season without Kwahi...surely adding another all NBA level talent would at worse have them be around the same mark or slightly better at over 50 wins.

Reality - my post was "remember kawhi played 9 games in the 47 win team" and your reply is "remember kawhi played no games in the 47 win team".