Kawhi Leonard Makes Toronto a Contender Again

With the summer of 2026 coming to a close, Kawhi Leonard has officially joined the Toronto Raptors after months of agonizing waiting.

 

Now, with Leonard on the team alongside Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley, the Raptors have put together a very solid foursome capable of scoring, facilitating, and defending well.

Adding a top-10 player to an already elite defense changes the conversation. Toronto now has a case as the NBA’s best two-way team.

The Raptors’ defensive numbers for the 2025-26 season were fantastic, good for fifth in the league in defensive rating. Nobody questions their defensive ability. The problem has always been the absence of a high-level first option on offense.

The trade for Brandon Ingram in 2025 was an attempt to fix that. Ingram looked like the answer at first. A disappointing playoff run made it clear he wasn’t.

 

Enter Kawhi Leonard. Toronto’s Terminator is coming off of one of the best seasons of his career last year, averaging 28.0 points, 3.5 assists, and 2.0 steals. Leonard also shot over 38% from three and dragged the Clippers to 42 wins and playing 65 games.

Leonard bringing all this to the Raptors elevates the team to a status that could potentially rival those of the 2019 championship roster.

On top of making the All-Star game, Scottie Barnes came fifth in the Defensive Player of the Year vote. He also made the All-Defensive Second Team, anchoring the Raps while dealing with a frequently shifting and injured backcourt.

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There’s also second-year lottery pick Collin Murray-Boyles, who already looks like one of the league’s best young defenders, and Jamal Shead, whose physical, Lowry-esque style sets the tone in the backcourt. The addition of Kyle Anderson — who averaged over 1.5 combined steals and blocks last season — only deepens the roster’s defensive identity.

The Raptors were already one of the league’s best defensive teams. Adding Leonard’s two Defensive Player of the Year awards and his reputation as one of the most disruptive wing defenders in NBA history only reinforces that. While Oklahoma City and San Antonio remain elite on that end behind dominant big men, Toronto has arguably assembled the best perimeter and wing defense in the league.

Leonard’s impact goes beyond the defensive end, though. The Raptors finished with the 15th-ranked offensive rating last season, largely because they lacked a true go-to scorer. Leonard changes that immediately.

Pair Leonard with Barnes’ playmaking, Barrett’s secondary scoring, and Quickley’s shot creation, and Toronto has firepower at every level. The only thing standing between this group and Finals contention is the center position.

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The last time Kawhi joined the Raptors, Toronto eventually traded for Marc Gasol — a move that proved instrumental to their championship run. Without a capable center anchoring the defense, that Larry O’Brien Trophy might never have come to Toronto. History suggests this roster needs the same kind of addition.

Jakob Poeltl has shown flashes, but his injury concerns last season were hard to ignore. He played fewer minutes in the playoffs than a starting center should, forcing Murray-Boyles (as a rookie) to guard bigger players in high-leverage moments.

In a conference where Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl Anthony-Towns, and Joel Embiid all loom in potential playoff matchups, that’s a problem Toronto cannot afford to leave unsolved.The Eastern Conference has not been this stacked in years, and it arrives just as Toronto’s young core is finally ascending.

The Raptors have to play the hand they’ve been dealt for now, but they should be ready to make a big swing before the deadline if the right center becomes available.