Kawhi Leonard Trade Grades: How Did Clippers, Raptors Make Out in Superstar Blockbuster?

It’s not quite a homecoming ... but it’s close.

On Tuesday, after several days’ worth of rumors, the news broke that the Clippers are trading Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors. On the verge of free agency opening officially on Tuesday evening, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports the two sides are nearing an agreement that would send Leonard back to Toronto and Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two first-round picks, a first-round pick swap and two second-rounders to Los Angeles.

It’s a huge trade for both sides. The Clippers are moving on from the Leonard era in surprisingly quick fashion after he enjoyed a career season last campaign; he scored 27.9 points in 65 games played to earn another All-NBA nod. The Raptors were a budding contender entering the offseason and just traded for one of the best two-way wings in the game—as well as the star of their one and only championship team in franchise history.

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Let’s break down how L.A. and Toronto made out in this transaction and dish out grades based on what the deal currently looks like.

Clippers: C+

It’s hard to argue with the direction the Clippers chose with this trade, at least. The franchise finally has some youthful talent worth getting excited about after acquiring Darius Garland and lucking into the fifth pick in the 2026 draft, which turned out to be Keaton Wagler. Leonard is obviously still a great player but he’s 35 and notoriously injury-prone. He wasn’t going to be part of the next contending Clippers team in Los Angeles.

Between the new lottery rules and the team’s dire draft pick situation that doesn’t seem them controlling their own selection until 2030, there was no universe in which L.A. was going to tank. But if Leonard was ever going to be a trade piece, then right now was the perfect time to do it—his value wasn’t going to be higher given he’s healthy and entering the final year of his deal.

But considering the dramatic investment the franchise made into Leonard’s talents and his current status as a top-15 player when healthy, it’s a bit of a disappointing return. Ingram is a reliable scorer who will keep the team semi-competitive sharing No. 1 duties alongside Garland next season. Dick is a decent change-of-scenery bet. No matter where the draft picks land they’ll be enormously valuable to an organization that hasn’t enjoyed many of them since trading for Paul George.

But the Clippers probably didn’t find a new player to add to their core. The Raptors kept hold of their best young players. As a result the draft picks will not be very good even if Leonard gets hurt. That’s a mediocre return for a superstar player, even if it was the right move to make in the larger context of the franchise’s current state.

Raptors: A

Kawhi Leonar — It’s been seven years, but Kawhi is back in a Raptors uniform. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Conversely, it’s impossible to hate this deal in any way for the Raptors. They get to replace Ingram in the starting lineup next season and gave up nothing except draft picks to do it. Dick was struggling to stick in Darko Rajaković’s rotation and might’ve been on his way out anyway. But Toronto didn’t have to move Scottie Barnes, Collin Murray-Boyles, RJ Barrett or Immanuel Quickley. Not even 2026 first-round pick Allen Graves. The front office managed to keep the entire playoff rotation intact while bringing in a legitimate, playoff-proven No. 1 option.

Could this go wrong? Of course. Leonard is one misstep away from another serious knee injury that could spell the end of his career at this point in time. In fact, that’s the reason he was available in the first place. He wanted long-term financial stability in the form of a contract extension that the Clippers were reluctant to give him due in large part due to his injury issues. The Raptors will reportedly be giving Leonard that extension and thus will be on the hook for what will probably be a huge amount of money regardless of whether or not he sees the court.

But it is a risk well worth taking. The best-case scenario here is that one of the best defenses in the NBA upgraded from a 20-point-per-game scorer to a 27-point-per-game scorer who is far more capable of creating his own shot up and down the floor while providing much better defense on top of that. That catapults Toronto from a middling seed in the East to a legitimate championship contender. The worst case is that the organization just moves forward with the Barnes era after giving up draft picks and financial flexibility for a home run swing—things that can be regained as easily as they were given up.

The Raptors figured to be a good team for a while but had no clear path towards becoming a great one without a big level-up from Barnes. Leonard becoming available was a godsend in that regard. They added an All-NBA offensive player to a roster that needs exactly that and didn’t make their team worse in the process. That’s a rare superstar trade in the NBA and a huge win for Toronto.

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