Toronto Raptors: Who won the big trade, us or San Antonio?

The biggest trade news of the summer in the NBA was the monster deal between the Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs. How is it playing out for both teams?

Masai Ujiri, the President of the Toronto Raptors, took the biggest gamble of his career on July 18. He traded Raptors institution DeMar DeRozan, and received Kawhi Leonard (yes, I know there’s more). There was lots of sound and fury at the time, but no way to truly know how the deal would unfold until players hit the floor. They have, so let’s take a look.

To refresh your memory (which most of you won’t need to do):

The consensus of opinion at the time went something like this: “If you believe the team which gets the best player wins the trade, then the Raptors come out on top. However, that applies only if Kawhi Leonard is fully recovered from his mysterious leg injury. Second caveat – should Toronto not be able to re-sign Leonard to a new deal as an Unrestricted Free Agent, then he will be a one-season rental. That means the Raptors will have given away the best player in franchise history for no long-term gain. And Poeltl isn’t a throw-in, but an improving young big man, and a former lottery pick.”

All true then, and still true today.

For the Raptors, Leonard has been superb. Already chants of “MVP” are raining down from all sides of Scotiabank Arena when he takes free throws. He scores, he defends like few we’ve ever seen, he rebounds. Kawhi has been exactly as advertised: a two-way beast.

In a concession to Leonard’s ongoing recovery from injury, he has been held out of both Toronto road games, which the team split. How long that practise is exercised is anyone’s guess, but it hasn’t hurt the team so far. I’d guess he’ll sit out the second game of back to backs for a while.

Danny Green has also been a revelation. He’s a defensive marvel, hits a bunch of open 3-balls, and doesn’t make many mistakes.

How often does a team pick up two quality (and then some) starters in one trade? I don’t know, but I’ll wager not often.

The Spurs are hanging tough

Does all this mean the Raptors “won” the trade? Yes, but not by a lot. DeRozan has been nothing short of brilliant in Texas. He’s playing for the perfect coach for his old-style 2-point basket style. Gregg Popovich didn’t get DeMar as a consolation prize.  DeRozan is scoring at a furious rate, and also piling up assists like he never did in Toronto.

The Spurs lost both their point guards, Dejounte Murray and Derrick White, to injuries. DeRozan has been pressed into service as a ball-handler, and couldn’t be better. Don’t believe me? Here’s the assists leaders – and there’s DeMar, tied for sixth with 7.3 per game. Hands up, anyone, who predicted our former isolation master would attain such a rank…and that would be nobody. DeMar deserves much of the credit for the Spurs’s 5-2 start.

The biggest loser in the trade has been Poeltl, who has piled up more DNP-CDs than minutes – OK, not quite, but he’s certainly been buried. I would have thought he’d fit right in to the Spurs’s Euro-friendly culture. Perhaps Pop has taken him aside and asked him to be patient while learning from greybeard Pau Gasol.

Hey, Pop, if you really don’t want Jak, we’ll happily take him back. No, I thought not, but I had to ask.

While this success of this trade won’t be known for many months, or perhaps years, the early returns are in. This deal is the rarest thing in any professional sport – one that helps both teams.