After a year spent tangled up in the investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers’ salary cap circumvention on his behalf, Kawhi Leonard finally gets his fresh start, returning to the Toronto Raptors. It’s a much-needed reunion for both sides, and one that gives Leonard a chance to rewrite his career arc that grew increasingly messy during his time in Los Angeles.

Leonard famously left Toronto for the Clippers in the 2019 offseason, but seven years later, he’s back with the team he led to a championship in his lone season north of the border, a run that still stands as the single most memorable season in franchise history. That 2019 title also remains the only one Toronto has ever won in the NBA.

The trade sending him back was actually agreed on all the way back in June, but it only became official this September, as the Raptors waited for the salary cap investigation to run its course before finalizing the deal

Even at 35, Leonard remains one of the best players in the league. He made his seventh All-Star team this past season and earned Second Team All-NBA honors after averaging 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.9 steals in 32.1 minutes across 65 games with the Clippers, shooting 50.5 percent from the field, 38.7 percent from three, and 89.2 percent from the line.

He’s already said all the right things since arriving back in Toronto, making clear that this is Scottie Barnes’ team and that his own focus is simply on winning, exactly the kind of low-maintenance messaging that a front office wants to hear from an incoming veteran star. 

Barnes, an All-Star in two of the last three seasons, enters his sixth year with the Raptors after they drafted him fourth overall back in 2021, and pairing him with Leonard gives Toronto what might be the most potent defensive duo in basketball this season.

Leonard’s presence alone raises Toronto’s floor, assuming he can stay healthy, but the Raptors’ real ceiling still runs through Barnes. If his upward trajectory continues, this version of the Raptors has a real chance to sneak up on the East as a dark-horse contender.

Toronto once had, for one unforgettable season, arguably the greatest rental player in league history. Now they get him back as a veteran leader hoping to help build up the latest iteration of the Raptors to the heights that he helped bring this team to seven years ago.