For many Toronto Raptors fans, this offseason has become Kawhi Leonard or nothing. But from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst's perspective, he believes that can’t be an approach the Raptors front office takes, and they need to start searching elsewhere.
In a recent episode of Windhorst's podcast The Hoop Collective, he discussed the importance of the Raptors having backup plans if this deal does fall through, with his ESPN colleague Anthony Slater. They referred to the day before training camp as the deadline he expects the Raptors front office to set for the trade to be made official.​
This is a fair suggestion and one that I definitely believe the Raptors are considering, as Windhorst also pointed out how odd it would be to bring both Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick back. The tough part about pivoting from Leonard is that there is no one openly on the market right now who can bring anywhere close to the impact he can. With Leonard, this team had a championship ceiling; without him, they don’t.
That’s the challenging part. When you scan the league and look at stars or fringe stars that could potentially be on the move, none stand out as incredible floor or ceiling raisers.
If the deal falls through, options are limited
​Slater mentioned Domantas Sabonis as a potential target, referring back to his own reports from the trade deadline. According to Slater, the Raptors and Sacramento Kings were close to completing a Domantas Sabonis deal at the 2026 trade deadline. The deal was centered around RJ Barrett but fell through because the Kings didn't want to take on the additional financial burden that is Jakob Poeltl. If the Raptors were to pivot and spin back on Sabonis, they would be able to match money easily between Ingram and Dick, but what would that fit look like, and what ceiling does that give Toronto?
In a situation where you trade Ingram as part of a Sabonis deal, you’d still have Poeltl and his money on the books, which would definitely give Toronto an improved frontcourt but at an extremely high price tag. While the size of a starting five that featured Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Barrett, Collin Murray-Boyles, and Sabonis is intriguing, it’s a massive drop-off from any lineup that features Leonard.
Given how much the Eastern Conference has improved, that team would likely have a sixth- or seventh-seed ceiling, which would be hard for fans to stomach after all the hype this team once had.
Tyler Herro and Michael Porter Jr. are two other names the Raptors could target from a money standpoint if a Leonard deal fell through and they needed to find a different home for Brandon Ingram. But even then, how much better does that make the 2026-27 Raptors than the 2025-26 Raptors? Only a little bit, if at all.
My takeaway from Windhorst and Slater’s discussion is that the Raptors don’t have a clear Plan B. They have options to fall back on and ways to reshuffle this roster to give fans a new look in 2026-27. But what they don’t have is another player on the market that gives them the ceiling Kawhi Leonard can. If the trade does fall through, fans won’t only be losing a superstar—they’ll be losing what looked like this franchise’s best path to a championship since 2019.
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