The Los Angeles Clippers and Raptors have finalized a trade that sends Leonard to Toronto in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, one first-round pick swap, and two second-round picks, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania on Monday. The deal still needs NBA approval via a trade call, which is yet to happen.
As reported by The Athletic’s Law Murray on Monday, the draft compensation in the trade remains unchanged. The unprotected first-round picks from Toronto to L. A. will be for 2031 and 2033; the pick swap is set for 2027 while the second-rounders are slated for 2030 and ’33.
Meanwhile, Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy stated that Leonard is giving up his entire 15 percent trade bonus as part of this arrangement. While the Raptors will still face a hard cap at the first-apron line heading into this season, they won’t need to expand the deal because of Leonard’s decision.
The Raptors initially paused the proposed trade back in July while waiting for results from the NBA’s investigation into salary-cap circumvention involving the Clippers.
This month, the league revealed it had taken away five first-round picks from 2029 through 2033 from the Clippers and fined them $30 million after an independent investigation found repeated misconduct and significant rule violations.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer along with president of business operations Gillian Zucker received one-year suspensions, while president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank was suspended for six months. Despite Ballmer’s “disagreements” with what the NBA found, he has decided to accept their punishment after rumors suggested he might pursue legal action.
Leonard will need to pay $700,000 due to his connection with those violations but won’t face suspension or have his contract canceled.
The 35-year-old had an average last season of 27.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.4 blocks per game for Los Angeles.
A seven-time all-star and two-time NBA champion who was also named All-NBA seven times, Leonard played for the Raptors during their championship-winning season in 2018-19.
<p. Once everything is finalized with this trade, Leonard is expected to address reporters during the Raptors' media day on September 28.
– with files from The Canadian Press
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