Kawhi's silence through early free agency noise favors Raptors
In typical Kawhi Leonard fashion, he’s approaching free agency at his own pace.
While others blatantly ignored tampering rules in a rush to secure their future, Leonard didn’t even take meetings with teams. Instead, he sat back and surveyed the landscape before making any rash decisions, and it’s expected that he will ramp up the process in the coming days.
His options remain the same: The Raptors, Clippers, and Lakers all stood still while waiting for Leonard’s decision. However, the situations have changed in light of how the first day of free agency played out, and it generally favors the Raptors.
The Clippers took the biggest hit. It was reported for months that the Clippers planned to create two maximum cap slots to recruit a second star to pair alongside Leonard. However, that plan looks to be shot, as Kevin Durant joined Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, while Jimmy Butler took his talents to South Beach. Even Al Horford opted to relocate to Philadelphia, which leaves D’Angelo Russell — who is closely affiliated with Minnesota — as the best remaining free agent available. Without a second star, it’s unlikely that the Clippers will hold much appeal beyond geography.
The Lakers still remain on solid ground. Reports indicated that former Lakers president Magic Johnson met with Uncle Dennis and Leonard, but nobody currently affiliated with the Lakers has yet to actually sit down with Leonard in a meeting. However, every lost second is precious for the Lakers, as back-up free agent options are quickly flying off the board while Leonard takes his time. Not only is there no more third star left for the Lakers to sign beyond Leonard, but even second and third-tier free agents might be unavailable as the Lakers look to fill out their roster that currently consists of only three players.
All this points to a positive outcome for the Raptors, who remain the most stable option. Save for Danny Green, who is drawing interest from Dallas, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, the Raptors can assure Leonard that the entire rotation from the defending champions will remain intact. And even in the case of Green, he’s willing to hold the door open on re-signing if Leonard stays. It should also be noted that Toronto hasn’t leaked a mumbling word about the recruitment process, whereas the Clippers and Lakers have put the fiercely private Leonard’s name in the news cycle about once per hour since the weekend started.
As for the path back to the Finals, it looks as if the East will once again be the weaker conference. Boston downgraded by essentially swapping out one scoring guard for another while losing depth and their entire frontcourt. Philadelphia shed their only closer in Butler and their best shooter in JJ Redick in favor of re-signing Tobias Harris (who was arguably the Sixers’ worst starter in the playoffs against Toronto) while adding middling scorers in Josh Richardson and Al Horford. Milwaukee lost Malcolm Brogdon to Indiana, while also capping themselves out for the foreseeable future by locking themselves into their current core that fell flat. If Leonard were to re-sign, the Raptors would be head and shoulders better than the competition in the East.
It’s unclear if any of this will be of any interest to Leonard, who strictly marches to the beat of his own drum. If he is homesick for Los Angeles, or he can’t turn down the allure of LeBron James’ spotlight, then perhaps all this is moot. But the Raptors should be feeling good about where they stand after the first day of free agency. Toronto no longer has to worry about what-ifs from their competitors, it can just hope that Leonard sees where the best situation is.
More Raptors coverage from Yahoo Sports
