Celtics, 76ers Decided Against Kawhi Leonard Trade Due To Belief He'd Sign In L.A. In 2019

[Donnyxc]

Boston won't win if Ainge thinks Tatum is untouchable.

He's going to have an excellent statistical year this year if he's handed the reigns tho

[Donnyxc]

This is why Masai Ujiri is the Executive of the year. He had the cohones to make the deal and live whatever was the result was.

Have to agree. It's a make or miss league in all senses.

Ainge put together a championship roster on paper. It didn't materialize. You could argue he didn't put all his eggs, as the Celtics haven't traded away their young core. However, they also don't have a ship.

What Kawhi and Masai did this year was incredible. And should be respected.

[puja21]

Was giving up Derozan really a big risk? Child pleeeze.

The risk you guys are missing is that Masai put all his chips on the table and went for it. If this didnt work out, he's out that door. Maybe you LA folks should think outside of the box sometimes.

He wasn’t getting fired. He would’ve gone to ownership and said “we were topped out, we went for it, it didn’t work out, let’s retool.”

Yeah zero chance he would have been fired

If anything "out that door" would have been taking another job like when he jumped from Denver to begin with (just had the Wiz offer on the table for instance)

[spree2kawhi]

People never realized that Masai set the Raptors up for an instant rebuild if Kawhi decides to leave. It was a trade without any risk, at least a salary dump for a middling Raptors team that turned into a championship.

[nikster]

It was an easy choice for Masai. Granted, it paid off in spades; but there was little risk involved.

Yeah it’s not fair to compare them. Raptors only had 2 years of DeRozan, a flawed all star who was commanding near max and who’s teams could never make it come the hump. Giving up Tatum, Simmons or Embiid are much bigger risks

They say fortune favors the brave....damn how big is Ujiris balls?! Too big to measure, lol!

Again it wasn’t a big risk in Ujiris part

[nitocobola]

Yeah it’s not fair to compare them. Raptors only had 2 years of DeRozan, a flawed all star who was commanding near max and who’s teams could never make it come the hump. Giving up Tatum, Simmons or Embiid are much bigger risks

They say fortune favors the brave....damn how big is Ujiris balls?! Too big to measure, lol!

Again it wasn’t a big risk in Ujiris part

YEP,I don't know why people don't get this. I don't think that the sixers could have got kawhi without involving simmons in the trade.. You just don't trade a 22 year old all-star that you can control during 7/8 years for a player that could leave next year.

Trading de rozan was an easy choice for the raps, it paid off.. props to them.

[triple_threat]

They say fortune favors the brave....damn how big is Ujiris balls?! Too big to measure, lol!

Again it wasn’t a big risk in Ujiris part

YEP,I don't know why people don't get this. I don't think that the sixers could have got kawhi without involving simmons in the trade.. You just don't trade a 22 year old all-star that you can control during 7/8 years for a player that could leave next year.

Trading de rozan was an easy choice for the raps, it paid off.. props to them.

This times 1,000,000.

Its masai's other moves that were much more impressive... Siakim, Vanvleet, etc.

[mickie]

Was giving up Derozan really a big risk? Child pleeeze.

The risk you guys are missing is that Masai put all his chips on the table and went for it. If this didnt work out, he's out that door. Maybe you LA folks should think outside of the box sometimes.

He wasn’t getting fired. He would’ve gone to ownership and said “we were topped out, we went for it, it didn’t work out, let’s retool.”

Then you prolly dont know the Raptors ownership is like. They love DeMar here in Toronto and the amount of fans crucifying Masai when this trade happened. If Kawhi didnt play like he did and the bombed out in the playoffs it'll be a full rebuild without Masai. Masai convinced them to get rid off the COTY and trade the only "star" who pledged his allegiance to the city and replaced him with a player who no one knows the severity of his injury and expect Maple Leafs Entertainment to just take it without firing anyone? Lol. Ok.

[hype_2004]

The risk you guys are missing is that Masai put all his chips on the table and went for it. If this didnt work out, he's out that door. Maybe you LA folks should think outside of the box sometimes.

He wasn’t getting fired. He would’ve gone to ownership and said “we were topped out, we went for it, it didn’t work out, let’s retool.”

Then you prolly dont know the Raptors ownership is like. They love DeMar here in Toronto and the amount of fans crucifying Masai when this trade happened. If Kawhi didnt play like he did and the bombed out in the playoffs it'll be a full rebuild without Masai. Masai convinced them to get rid off the COTY and trade the only "star" who pledged his allegiance to the city and replaced him with a player who no one knows the severity of his injury and expect Maple Leafs Entertainment to just take it without firing anyone? Lol. Ok.

These guys don't know, they just don't know smdh, sacrifices had to be made. DeRozan loved it here and he was loved by many, the only true loyal Raptor, too bad his talents was not good enough to get us the title, still he was loved.

[the_process]

People never realized that Masai set the Raptors up for an instant rebuild if Kawhi decides to leave. It was a trade without any risk, at least a salary dump for a middling Raptors team that turned into a championship.

This 100%.

[firelogic]

This is why Masai Ujiri is the Executive of the year. He had the cohones to make the deal and live whatever was the result was.

People keep saying that it was a gamble/high-risk move and I don't get it at all. What risk? What gamble? Even if Kawhi didn't play a single game as a Raptor due to his injury, all the Raptors "lost" was 2 seasons of Derozan to which I say, "who cares?" He wasn't going to take the team anywhere and the team certainly wasn't going to get a better return than Kawhi. It was win/win for the organization as far as I'm concerned.

Kawhi is healthy and the team contends for a championship.
Kawhi has regressed and the rebuild starts a year early.

[mickie]

This is why Masai Ujiri is the Executive of the year. He had the cohones to make the deal and live whatever was the result was.

People keep saying that it was a gamble/high-risk move and I don't get it at all. What risk? What gamble? Even if Kawhi didn't play a single game as a Raptor due to his injury, all the Raptors "lost" was 2 seasons of Derozan to which I say, "who cares?" He wasn't going to take the team anywhere and the team certainly wasn't going to get a better return than Kawhi. It was win/win for the organization as far as I'm concerned.

Kawhi is healthy and the team contends for a championship.
Kawhi has regressed and the rebuild starts a year early.

if you don't see the gamble/risk here then you have no idea on how to run a "business". if Kawhi trade bombed out and he leaves this summer then yes we lost 2 years of the overpayment on DeMar but the bigger picture is the ticket/merchandise sale. who's gonna bring fans into the stands? No DeMar, no Kawhi? Lowry? There's a reason teams overpay for certain players like DeMar and it's not just about winning. Fans love him even when he choked in the playoffs.

[eureca20]

The biggest losers in this are the Spurs. They could have gotten rebuilding pieces and set themselves up for the future and Pop would have gotten the most out of them in the now. Refused to talk with the Lakers. Over asked in a deal with the Sixers/Celtics.

Instead they were hard headed and decided they had to have a borderline all star. Who probably won't ever make another all star team in the West. Who we know can't be your best player if you have hopes of winning a championship. Pretty soon I doubt they will give DeRozan a big extension and they will be left with Poeltl and what became the 29th pick in the 2019 NBA draft. It really will be one of the worst trades for a top 5/top 10 NBA player ever.

[Vegeta10176]

This is why Masai Ujiri is the Executive of the year. He had the cohones to make the deal and live whatever was the result was.

People keep saying that it was a gamble/high-risk move and I don't get it at all. What risk? What gamble? Even if Kawhi didn't play a single game as a Raptor due to his injury, all the Raptors "lost" was 2 seasons of Derozan to which I say, "who cares?" He wasn't going to take the team anywhere and the team certainly wasn't going to get a better return than Kawhi. It was win/win for the organization as far as I'm concerned.

Kawhi is healthy and the team contends for a championship.
Kawhi has regressed and the rebuild starts a year early.

if you don't see the gamble/risk here then you have no idea on how to run a "business". if Kawhi trade bombed out and he leaves this summer then yes we lost 2 years of the overpayment on DeMar but the bigger picture is the ticket/merchandise sale. who's gonna bring fans into the stands? No DeMar, no Kawhi? Lowry? There's a reason teams overpay for certain players like DeMar and it's not just about winning. Fans love him even when he choked in the playoffs.

Ahh no you don't get it if Kawhi had not played then Raptors still win enough games to maybe even be top 4 and Siakim still improves and you have OG.. Your record without Kawhi was great you still get knocked out second round though and then begin a rebuild and not pay the luxury tax and this season try trading Lowry for some assests.. Otherwise Raptors would be in the luxury tax for 2 years with a 2nd round team.. The fact is Demar would not have made much difference either way...

[red96]

No guts, no glory.

[RoyceDa59]

I don't blame either team for not pulling the trigger. Hindsight is always 20/20, but looking back at the time, a lot of Raptors fans (not myself) were disappointed and worried about the trade. Giving up a proven, loyal star talent for an upgraded one with lots of risk was a scary move. Obviously we all know how it turned out.

It's easier to give up a 29 year old maxed out DeRozan than it is to give up a 20ish year old Simmons/Tatum on a rookie scale contract for a potential 1-year rental.

Raps core pre-Kawhi wasn't going anywhere. Sixers and Celts at the time (and still now) have bright futures. They made the right moves based on the information they had at the time.

[asuran]

One thing we can be clear is that Pop/Buford believed it to be the best deal they could get and had the ultimate option to accept it or not.

Result was they did accept this particular offer and the rest is history.

Spurs were and are happy with the deal.
Raptors were and are now even more ecstatic about the deal.

No complaints.

[HotelVitale]

Spurs were and are happy with the deal. No complaints.

Sorry, why were the Spurs happy at the time, and how in the world are they currently happy with it? It was a laugh-out-loud bad return when the trade was announced, and now that Kawhi came back totally healthy and even more dominant on offense it looks nothing but worse. I get how the Spurs might have to live with the whole thing (Kawhi forced his way out, limited options) but dealing with something terrible because you have to isn't the same as being 'happy' with it.

[LAKESHOW]

Lets be clear. The Original Deal was done in FEAR/HATRED of the Lakers.

[CHNBA]

Back to last July, It is much harder for Celtics to trade young guns in Tatum and brown as well as sixes trading Simmons and embilld, Raptors were not taking any risk at all, they gotta trade Demar anyway and did not involve either Siakam and OG.

Speaking about kawai’s future, I think he will stay in Toronto.

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