Kawhi Leonard Era in LA Is Officially Over As Clippers Finalize Trade With the Raptors

It has been a chaotic last couple of months for the Los Angeles Clippers. Despite their desire to end the Kawhi Leonard era, their offseason was complicated by the league's cap circumvention investigation, which ended with one of the harshest punishments in NBA history.

It had been almost two weeks since the league had announced the Clippers' punishment, but the trade that would send Leonard to the Toronto Raptors had not been finalized. There was radio silence from the Clippers, raising eyebrows about whether they had different plans for Leonard. The fact that Steve Ballmer didn't mention Leonard's name or the trade in his post-punishment statement was certainly intriguing.

Clippers Fans' Kawhi Leonard Nightmare Is Finally Over

It turns out that the Raptors didn't have much to worry about. ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Monday afternoon that the Clippers and the Raptors have both agreed to complete the trade as it was previously agreed upon. The two teams reportedly had a trade call with the league office to process the deal.

This was a long time coming. Even if the Clippers reneged on this trade with the Raptors, Leonard was never going to return to LA after everything that went down. The Clippers could have screwed him and the Raptors over by exploring other avenues, but they may have understandably wanted to get this over with.

The Clippers reportedly had to delay the finalization of the trade because of the front office shakeup. Lawrence Frank and Steve Ballmer were both suspended by the league, so the Clippers had to work through their new front-office dynamics before moving forward with the trade.

Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, a future first-round pick swap, and two second-rounders are now headed to the Clippers.

Given how desperately the Clippers needed to get out of the Kawhi Leonard business, this is a solid return. Ingram could help them remain competitive while they start restocking their now-barren asset coffers. The draft capital they are getting from the Raptors is a good start for their rebuild, which was significantly hampered by the league's forfeiture of five of their draft picks.

The Clippers can now focus on the rest of their offseason moves. This trade puts them at 17 players under contract for next season. This means that they have to move on from at least two players between now and the start of the season.

This could signal that Ingram or Dick could also be on the move, but previous reporting had suggested that the Clippers want to keep Ingram, at least in the short run.

Now that the Clippers have seemingly figured out their front office issues, they should be back in business. Let's see what else they have in store for Clippers fans at the start of the post-Kawhi Leonard era.

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