What's new

Kawhi traded to Toronto

Jakob Poeltl will be a 15-17 ppg and 10-12 rpg guy with the Spurs.
giphy.gif
 
D
Dude is only 22 and played limited minutes with a deep lineup. It will be interesting to see what Pop does to develop him. He may not put these numbers up right away, but by he's the time 25, I wouldn't be surprised. He's underrated imo.
 
Last edited:
I still can't help but think this is an odd trade for the Spurs. Usually they are so ruthless. I believe they could have gotten more from other teams...

I think this is the Spurs way of getting back at Kawhi.

Why?

Kawhi's 'people' or 'camp' have thrown the 'Spurs family' under the bus the last couple of months. Tony Parker one of their greats and will get his number retired was basically shown to be the 'villain' in the story. Pop didn't fare much better and so did Buford for not kowtowing to Kawhi's every demands.

This to me is the Spurs way of getting back at him and letting him (and everyone in the League) knows that you simply don't mess with the Spurs and if you do - this is the consequence.
 
Also I think people are under-estimating what Masai Ujiri will be able to do to convince Kawhi to stay. IIRC he's very well liked by players around the League and I remembered when he traded for Serge Ibaka, he decided to re-sign with Toronto for 3 years.

I think Masai will fancy his chance at re-signing Kawhi as well.
 
Also I think people are under-estimating what Masai Ujiri will be able to do to convince Kawhi to stay. IIRC he's very well liked by players around the League and I remembered when he traded for Serge Ibaka, he decided to re-sign with Toronto for 3 years.

I think Masai will fancy his chance at re-signing Kawhi as well.

It'd be great if that happened. It's kinda sad to see players and organizations spurn each other all the time now. I still wonder who the Jazz could have obtained if Gordon was honest from day 1.
 
What I also don't get is why would the Spurs not wait til the USA basketball practice to showcase Kawhi before trading him?
 
What I also don't get is why would the Spurs not wait til the USA basketball practice to showcase Kawhi before trading him?

The risk of downside is much higher than the chance someone will think Kawhi is better than he was when he last played. If Kawhi sucks or plays only so-so, people will start to think he has lingering injuries.
 
The risk of downside is much higher than the chance someone will think Kawhi is better than he was when he last played. If Kawhi sucks or plays only so-so, people will start to think he has lingering injuries.

True. I think that's it. Kawhi's camp may have threatened the Spurs with that too, who knows.
 
The Spurs were asking for 2 starters and 3 x 1st round picks. Instead they settled for one 2nd tier all star, a young that comes off the bench, and an unlikely 1st round pick AND the threw in one of their perennial fan favorites Danny Green. Seems like the Spurs sold themselves VERY short here. Demar is a very good player and they did dump a headcase, but a headcase that is easily a top 4 player in the league. A league dominated by top tier players.

If Kawhi opts not to play for the Raptors, do the Raptors now flip Kawhi to another team (Lakers)? Do the Raptors instead pursue the legal route and bottom out?

What you can be positive about is that the Spurs got the best deal they could get. And they probably saw the value going down. LA thinks he is coming next year and refused to give up very much in terms of young talent. Philly is nervous about him walking after a year and also hoarding young talent. Not many viable options out there. Sounds like Toronto simply decided Demar was not the guy to build around so if Kawhi walks, they have cap space for next year. I think Kawhi and his advisors have played this very poorly but only time will tell. They certainly did this in a way that put the Spurs in a very bad spot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MVP
Teams don't get a physical until they go through with the trade. By showing that he can move around and shoot, etc, you (in theory) should widen the pool of potential suiters.
But the trade doesn't complete until they get their physical.
 
Top