What to know
- The NBA’s investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers and Kawhi Leonard remains ongoing, despite a report suggesting investigators had not found evidence that owner Steve Ballmer funneled money to Leonard through team sponsors. The NBA disputed aspects of that report.
- Toronto’s agreement in principle to acquire Leonard remains on hold pending the outcome of the investigation, keeping his potential Raptors return in limbo.
- True Sports Live NBA analyst Malik Taylor-Williams tells Now Toronto he believes Leonard would make the Raptors one of the five best teams in an increasingly competitive Eastern Conference.
- If the deal ultimately goes through, Leonard would return to the franchise he led to its first NBA championship in 2019.
For Raptors fans, the waiting game surrounding Kawhi Leonard’s potential return to Toronto isn’t over just yet.
But after weeks of uncertainty surrounding the blockbuster deal, attention is increasingly turning to another question: just how good could the Raptors be if Leonard actually comes back?
The NBA’s ongoing investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers and their relationship with Leonard remains the biggest obstacle preventing Toronto from completing its reported agreement to acquire the two-time NBA champion and Finals MVP.
The investigation centres on allegations that the Clippers may have circumvented the NBA’s salary-cap rules by providing Leonard with benefits outside his playing contract.
A recent report suggested investigators had not found evidence that Clippers owner Steve Ballmer funnelled money to Leonard through team sponsors. However, the NBA subsequently pushed back on aspects of that reporting, stressing that its investigation remains ongoing and that findings will be disclosed once the process is complete.
That means Toronto still does not have the final green light it needs to complete the reported trade.
True Sports Live NBA analyst Malik Taylor-Williams believes the league’s caution is understandable given the potential implications of the investigation.
“I think the NBA is just trying to make sure they handle this situation with as much diligence as possible due to the severity and the precedent it could set going forward,” Taylor-Williams told Now Toronto.
“I think they’re just trying their absolute best to make sure that every rock is unturned.”
For the Raptors, that has created an unusual holding pattern.
Toronto has reportedly agreed to a significant package to bring Leonard back to the franchise, but cannot officially move forward until there is clarity from the NBA.
Taylor-Williams believes Raptors fans nevertheless have reason to be increasingly optimistic about where things stand.
“I don’t think this has anything to do with us anymore,” he said.
Until the NBA officially concludes its investigation, however, Leonard’s return to Toronto remains just that: a potential return.
What happens if Kawhi returns to Toronto?
If the deal ultimately receives the clearance it needs, the conversation surrounding the Raptors could change almost immediately.
Instead of asking whether Leonard is coming back, Toronto would suddenly have to consider how far a team featuring Leonard alongside Scottie Barnes could realistically go.
Leonard would bring an accomplished veteran star back to the franchise he helped lead to its first NBA championship in 2019.
His arrival would also dramatically raise expectations for a Raptors team trying to establish itself among the Eastern Conference’s contenders.
Taylor-Williams believes Toronto could immediately enter the upper tier of the East.
“The East looks very scary once we get Kawhi,” he said. “I think we’d be one of the best five teams in the East this year, especially with Kawhi Leonard.”
Getting Leonard would not automatically make Toronto the favourite to reach the NBA Finals.
The Eastern Conference has become increasingly competitive, and Taylor-Williams pointed to the changing landscape around the Raptors as another reason Toronto’s potential Leonard acquisition could prove significant.
Even in that environment, however, he believes adding a player of Leonard’s calibre would put the Raptors firmly into the conversation among the conference’s better teams.
And Toronto already knows what Leonard can do when the stakes are highest.
During his only season with the Raptors in 2018-19, Leonard helped deliver the franchise’s first NBA championship and was named Finals MVP after Toronto defeated the Golden State Warriors.
A return would come under very different circumstances, with Leonard joining a different roster and a franchise now built around Barnes rather than the core that surrounded him during the championship run.
Still, the possibility of Leonard wearing a Raptors jersey again would immediately change the ceiling Toronto enters the season with.
Raptors still waiting for the NBA
Before any of those basketball questions can be answered, the league investigation still has to run its course.
Despite reports suggesting the inquiry may be moving closer to a resolution, the NBA has not publicly cleared Leonard or the Clippers, nor has it officially given Toronto the approval needed to complete the reported deal.
That distinction matters.
Taylor-Williams believes the Raptors are approaching the point where the uncertainty surrounding the trade could finally begin to lift.
“We should be able to complete the trade as soon as the NBA gives us the final okay to do so,” he said.
Until that happens, Toronto remains in an unusual position: a blockbuster agreement has reportedly been reached, the possibility of Leonard returning has transformed expectations around the team, but the Raptors still cannot treat him as theirs.
If the NBA ultimately clears the path for the deal, though, the biggest question in Toronto will change quickly.
It will no longer be whether Kawhi Leonard is coming back.
It will be how far the Raptors can go with him.
