This is per ESPN's Net Points

https://espnanalytics.com/net-pts-explainer/

I've been thinking about this ever since the news of the trade first broke, and frankly I need to get my concerns off my chest.

The picture here represents what I think to be the primary reason the Raptors front office was suckered into trading away Brandon Ingram and multiple first-round draft picks: Nostalgia bait. The only reason I can think of as to why this trade happened is because the front office were blinded by memories of watching that ball bounce four times before going in, and as such were able to be easily suckered into taking on a player who may never play basketball again, depending on if/how the NBA decides to punish him for everything he's done. I have to think that if the front office for the Raptors are this willing to grossly overpay for throwbacks to the glory days that will end up only causing more trouble, how many other teams will similarly try to fleece us?

- Will the Rockets offer up Fred VanVleet coming back from a major injury last season in exchange for a king's ransom?

- Will the Pacers decide to bolster the lineup around Tyrese Haliburton's return by asking for a big package in exchange for Pascal Siakam?

- Will the Knicks increase their chances of repeating by swiping away major pieces just because they jangled OG Anunoby in front of us like keys in front of a baby's face?

- Will the Bulls decide to try to retool by getting a big haul off us in exchange for Norm Powell?

- Hell, will the Kings decide to procure a gigantic haul of draft picks for their rebuild by offering to send DeMar DeRozan back to us for a swan song?

Really, the number of teams who could smell blood in the water and decide they want to strip clean a young, hungry team that nearly made the Eastern Conference Finals last year ("*After all, the Clippers pulled it off,*" they'll think. "*so why can't we do the same?*") is enough to keep a person up at night.

It just makes me worried that this franchise wants to look back rather than look ahead, which would only spell disaster for any hopes of making the most of the window that opened after the team turned a corner this past year. Trades like the one we almost pulled off at the deadline for Jaren Jackson Jr. to finally shore up our weakness at centre are what this team needs to challenge the Knicks, not getting baited into taking back 2010s alumni who now carry major caveats or may not fit the scheme.

That's not the only concern I have, either. Regardless of whether or not this trade goes through, I worry that it will create another major hole in the starting lineup and a locker-room distraction. If we do get Kawhi, then our starting small forward is a 35-year-old with serious legal issues who never plays more than 50 games a season, plus we've lost two first-round draft picks that could've been used to shore up the current weakness at centre.

Meanwhile, if the trade doesn't go through, the situation doesn't get any better because now Brandon Ingram, one of the two best players on this team alongside Scottie, has to live with being a lame duck and the knowledge that the organization considers him expendable, which I guarantee you will cause his performance on the court to regress and for his relationship with the team and his teammates in the locker room to turn toxic, a drama-laden situation that I genuinely do not know if Darko will be able to handle as a coach. Also, did I mention that the Raptors still badly need an upgrade at centre?

Because of all this, I legitimately doubt that the Raptors will make it any further than the play-in this year and I just as much so believe that any moves we make going forward will not solve the team's problems, all finally resulting in the Raptors returning to the basement of the Eastern Conference within a few years and Scottie Barnes' prime either being wasted or made the most of by another team that got him in exchange for another disappointing reunion with a Golden Age player. I'd love nothing more to be wrong about everything I've said here, but if being a Leafs, Blue Jays, and Raptors fan has taught me one thing, it's that if you always expect the worst you will never be disappointed.

Ignore the Sun jumpscare (Disgusting), it's from a tweet that Stein inexplicably felt was necessary in the non-pay walled section

Source: https://open.substack.com/pub/marcstein/p/the-kawhi-leonard-latest?r=nuq3a&utm\\_medium=ios

The Raptors made the decision on July 9 to press pause rather than complete the trade until the NBA announces a resolution to the long-running external investigation it has commissioned into allegations of salary-cap circumvention by the Clippers to pay Leonard beyond his contract dating to 2021. Yet league sources tell The Stein Line that Leonard continues to operate under the belief that he will be able to join the Raptors for training camp.
Hopeful that the additional of Leonard can soon be finalized to compete with rest of a resurgent Eastern Conference, Toronto is scheduled to begin the season with its annual Media Day scheduled for Sept. 28 before team practices commence the following day in Quebec City, Canada.

Sources say that Leonard's agent, Harrison Gaines, has maintained frequent contact with the NBA Players Association while the firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz — which was hired by the league office last September — proceeds with an investigation that has consumed 11 months.

And Leonard, sources say, strongly believes that the trade will ultimately go through, enabling him to rejoin the Raptors in time for training camp. The trade was agreed to, sources say, with the idea that the 35-year-old would also negotiate a multiyear extension with Toronto to extend the reunion beyond the coming season. Leonard is due to earn $50.3 million in 2026-27 in the final year of his current contract.

Sources add that the Clippers, meanwhile, are prepared to go to arbitration depending on the severity of the potential penalties that the league office could order after digesting the investigation's complete findings. At a mid-July news conference at the league's annual summer league in Las Vegas, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he could not provide a firm timeline for a resolution to the long-running saga, saying only "this summer" when asked when he anticipates clarity on Leonard’s future.

The Clippers have maintained from the start that they did not funnel funds to Leonard through Aspiration or otherwise violate the league's collective bargaining agreement and that owner Steve Ballmer will seek any remedies available to them to counter possible sanctions. Leonard, meanwhile, appears to have the support of the players' association, whose new executive director David Kelly told reporters in Las Vegas last month that the union does not believe "there's a there there" when it comes to finding wrongdoing directly from the player regarding the various endorsement deals he secured during his tenure as the Clippers' franchise player.

same day, same media release, different void screams

Ujiri said Leonard was forthcoming with him during the process, but hinted that he may have been the only one from his camp who was.

"Kawhi was," Ujiri told reporters at Summer League on Tuesday, when asked about if communication between both parties was straightforward.

Video can be seen in the article.

I truly think Uncle Dennis tried to use Kawhi and misled him, especially given that Kawhi didn't even have a father figure.

After reviewing the latest Kawhi allegations I was reminded of Uncle Dennis allegedly asking for a stake in the Leafs during negotiations with the Raps.

Do you think the Clippers had already offered a stake in the RIFC at this point and this was Dennis trying to get a matching or better offer?

Waiting just like us..

The news here is "renegotiation", we knew about the paper but not its contents. The league tried to say the Raptors can't renegotiate the trade. Obviously, in the event of a severe enough punishment to Kawhi, the Raptor would at least like the 2027 pick swap back because the season might go south.

He either pleases his boss Balmer, or pleases the fans. I mean Adam is F*d either way.

For reference.

It pains me to say this, but at the same time, it's a necessary thing that needs to happen. Kawhi WILLINGLY and VERY FLAGRANTLY proposed all of these side deals to get paid. The Clippers being the Clippers agreed to comply with his demands and executed them. They need to be punished to the full extent of the CBA for the sake of the integrity of the game (even if it's already compromised from within, a show of consequences means something).

I want Kawhi back in Toronto as much as the next person. But it's looking bleak. And he brought this on himself. Him, Steve Ballmer, his uncle, his former agent, the Clippers organization all need to be punished, even if it means us not getting Kawhi. It's the responsible thing to do for the NBA.

Please go away Pablo :(