Top News

Shortly after the NBA announced the findings of its cap circumvention investigation into the Clippers last Wednesday, Shams Charania of ESPN stated that the trade sending Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors would likely be completed within “the next couple of days.”

The two teams reached an agreement on that blockbuster deal on June 30, but the Raptors opted against finalizing the trade immediately after the moratorium period ended in July as they waited to see whether Leonard would have his contract voided or face a suspension as a result of the NBA’s probe. As Charania pointed out on Wednesday though, the ramifications for Kawhi amounted to a $700K fine, which won’t affect Toronto, so there appeared to be nothing standing in the way of the deal being processed as initially planned.

Six days later, however, the two teams have yet to officially announce the trade. So what’s the hold-up?

Sources tell Jake Fischer and Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link) that one key reason for the delay is that the Clippers are still “working through” their new front office structure after team owner Steve Ballmer and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank were suspended for one year and six months, respectively.

There has been an expectation that general manager Trent Redden will step up and run the basketball operations department in Frank’s absence, but the Clippers will also need to name a new interim governor to replace Ballmer. Both of those new decision-makers would have to formally sign off on the deal before it can be completed.

There has also been some speculation that the Raptors may seek to reopen the terms of the trade agreement, recognizing they have more leverage now than they did in June. The Clippers, who were forced by the NBA to forfeit five future first-round picks for violating the league’s cap circumvention rules, need the two first-rounders they’re acquiring from Toronto in this deal more than ever, so perhaps they’d be willing to compromise on the two second-rounders or the 2027 pick swap that are also expected to be part of the trade.

But ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said during Tuesday’s Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link) that he wouldn’t count on the terms being amended.

“In talking to people, I think that trade is going to go through, and I think it’s going to go through as is,” Windhorst said. “I was scolded for implying – or maybe not implying, but wondering whether – the terms could get altered. … People say in the NBA, your word is important. So, they’ve agreed on this trade and I think they’re going to go through with it as constructed.”

For what it’s worth, the statement that Leonard put out last Wednesday through agent Harrison Gaines and the NBPA characterized the trade as essentially a done deal.

“As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate,” Leonard said in that statement.

The agreement the two teams reached in June called for the Raptors to acquire Leonard in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, second-round picks in 2030 and 2033, and the right to swap the least favorable of the Clippers, Nuggets’, and Thunder’s 2027 first-round picks for Toronto’s 2027 first-rounder.