The Toronto Raptors have stolen the show of the NBA offseason with their massive splash to reacquire Kawhi Leonard from the Los Angeles Clippers.
One of the immediate things that stands out with this trade is that the Raptors finally have a bona fide No. 1 scoring option and someone they can trust to close out games. While it makes sense that Leonard's offensive production would overshadow his defense, given that he averaged 27.9 points per game last season, his defense is the part that I’m most intrigued by.
Now, Leonard's last season wasn’t the level of defender he was when he last played for the Raptors, and this time around, Toronto doesn’t need him to be.
With all-around defensive stoppers like Scottie Barnes and Collin Murra-Boyles, the Raptors already have their anchors on that side of the floor. To go along with them are two high-level point-of-attack defenders in Jamal Shead and Ja’Kobe Walter. Throw Leonard into the mix, and the wheels start really turning about what a Shead-Walter-Leonard-Barnes-CMB death lineup could look like.
In close games, deploying this lineup with five minutes to go would be a way for Darko Rajakovic to put a lid on the basket and ensure a smooth closeout to games for the Raptors.
The Raptors have a new secret defensive weapon
Forever, we’ve seen coaches roll out their defensive lineups when up big in games, but even then, those lineups, at most, typically feature one, maybe two, All-Defensive-caliber guys. The Raptors can roll out three All-Defensive-caliber defenders, along with two specialist defenders in Shead and Walter. That’s an advantage that can’t be overstated enough. The connectivity defensively on the perimeter, where each guy can switch and rotate all around, is going to generate a ton of steals and lead to easy transition looks.
There may be questions about how a lineup like this matches up against certain teams on the glass or in terms of size. However, it’s worth noting how elite rebounders all three of Barnes, CMB, and Leonard are for their heights and the strength and toughness they all possess.
We saw in this past postseason Barnes and CMB body up the likes of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley on the glass, so size and closing possessions shouldn’t be a concern.
Toronto in the Rajakovic era has been built mostly on a defense-first approach, generating turnovers and running on the open floor—all things Leonard will help improve. Throughout the 2025-26 season, Toronto struggled to maintain big leads and string together stops down the stretch. With this lineup, they have a solution to that. If the Raptors are leading by 10 with five-ish minutes to play, deploying the Shead-Walter-Leonard-Barnes-CMB lineup would have opposing teams feeling like that Popeyes worker meme.
If you don’t get that reference, she was tired, upset, and done with her job.
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