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Kawhi Leonard got off with a slap on the wrist while the NBA brought the hammer down on the Clippers and owner Steve Ballmer for circumventing the salary cap to pay him more.
An agreement was in place to trade Leonard to Toronto, but the Raptors put that on hold, waiting to see the outcome and punishments from the NBA’s investigation (they would have been on the hook if Leonard were suspended, for example). Now that the report is (largely) finished and the punishments handed down, the trade can move forward.
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So why hasn’t the trade happened yet?
First, the trade absolutely will go through, multiple league sources told NBC Sports. That is considered a given. Nobody is pulling out of this deal, both because it would crush reputations to agree to something and then pull out, and also because both sides get things they want out of this trade.
Why the delay in making it official? A couple of reasons. One is that there is no real deadline pressure to do it right now, so long as it gets done in the next couple of weeks, before training camps open Sept. 22.
The other reason: the Clippers have to reorganize their front office in the wake of the suspensions — including president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank — something first reported by Marc Stein at The Stein Line. The expectation is that general manager Trent Redden will step into the big chair for the Clippers for six months, but that is not yet formally in place.
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With the Clippers scrambling a little bit to get their ducks in a row, the trade has yet to go through. Expect it to become official in the coming weeks.
As a reminder, that trade sends Leonard to the Raptors, while the Clippers get Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-rounders, two first-round pick swaps and a second-round pick. Make no mistake, the Clippers want this trade to go through, they now need and are counting on those picks after having five of their first-round picks taken away by the league. The Raptors want Leonard, who, paired at forward with Scottie Barnes, forms an interesting and potentially dangerous team in the East.
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/kawhi-leonard-trade-toronto-holdup-164927770.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-09 16:49:00
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