Raptors: 5 best moves Bobby Webster has made as GM in Toronto

Toronto Raptors GM Bobby Webster move No. 1: Trading for Kawhi Leonard

There was really no other way this was going to end, was there? Even as DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl remain members of the San Antonio Spurs while Leonard and Danny Green have long since moved on from Toronto, the permanence of the 2019 title gives this deal a landslide victor.

While in Toronto, Leonard put forth an iconic season for the ages, elevating a pretty good team to a great one, delivering a timeless moment (‘The Shot’) and serving up a string of long-lasting non-sequiturs (‘fun guy’, ‘what it do, baybee’, the Kawhi laugh…). Sure, his decision to bolt in free agency at the first opportunity might slightly temper his legacy, but the eternal nature of the championship will ensure that he lives on in Toronto, even after a mere single season.

Lest anyone forget, the blockbuster deal was a huge risk for the Raptors at the time. They were essentially shipping out a franchise favorite who loved Toronto for an injured one-time star who didn’t. In fact, it was a picture of Leonard with Webster and Ujiri that sent Raptors fans buzzing that their new star had at least arrived in Toronto.

Things would only get better from there. While San Antonio Spurs draftee Keldon Johnson offers some promise as the draft pick acquired in the deal, it’ll take a major star turn by the 21-year-old to give San Antonio any hope that the trade is salvageable.

Looking back, it’s been a pretty successful four-year stretch since Webster was named GM. Not that a successful past guarantees anything for the future, but Raptors fans can trust that Webster is smart, analytically minded and very capable of potentially anchoring the office moving forward.