Toronto thought they had their franchise player with Demar Derozan. He led them to consecutive playoff appearances, however they didn’t have the supporting players to make a deep playoff run. The Raptors seemed to hit their ceiling every year mid-way through playoffs. With not having the money to build around Derozan, the front office to a risk and shook things up for a chance at a ring.
On July 18, 2018 a blockbuster trade between the Spurs and Raptors shocked the NBA. The Spurs traded Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green along with 5 million in cash to the Raptors for Demar Derozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a protected 2019 1st round pick.
This was the Raptors “all-in” moment as there were already rumors surrounding Kawhi’s trade requests to L.A. With Kawhi’s trade demands from when he was in San Antonio, the NBA world started to assume that his time in Toronto will be short-lived. However the Raptor’s desperation attempt worked as they won the NBA championship.
