The LA Clippers are nearing an agreement to trade All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, one pick swap and two second-round picks, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
The deal marks a return to Canada for the star who led the Raptors to an NBA title in 2019, winning Finals MVP after he averaged 28.5 points per game in the victory over the Golden State Warriors.
Leonard scored 732 points during the 2019 playoffs, the third most in a single postseason in NBA history, trailing Michael Jordan in 1992 and LeBron James in 2018. He played just one season with the Raptors, as he was traded by the San Antonio Spurs in July 2018, then left Toronto as a free agent in 2019 to join the Clippers.
The two-time Finals MVP, who turned 35 on Monday, leaves the Clippers following six seasons in Los Angeles as the team decides to move toward a younger direction.
LA and Toronto engaged in trade talks over the last couple of weeks on Leonard -- whose reps informed teams across the league that he wanted to sign an extension only with the Raptors, sources said. Leonard has the 2026-27 season left on his contract at $50.3 million. He had preferred to stay with the Clippers, but the franchise made no long-term commitments to him this offseason, sources said.
Three key reasons Leonard was open to this deal to Toronto, according to sources: Familiarity with a Toronto organization that has the majority of its front office structure in place, now led by executive vice president Bobby Webster. Leonard also likes the city of Toronto and believes the Raptors can contend in the Eastern Conference.
Leonard will now be eligible to sign up to a two-year, $123.7 million extension with his new team, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks. Leonard envisions ending his career in Toronto, sources said.
Leonard was a three-time All-Star for the Clippers and is coming off a career year in which he averaged 27.9 points and played 65 regular-season games. It was just his second season with 60 games played since his season in Toronto. Leonard finished seventh in MVP voting and was named to second-team All-NBA -- his fourth All-NBA honor as a member of the Clippers. The Clippers, however, went 42-40 and lost in the play-in tournament to the Golden State Warriors.
The trade is a pivot from the Clippers and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, who said at his end-of-season news conference in April that he wanted to keep Leonard.
"Our plan is to win with Kawhi," he said. "We obviously showed as an organization that we want to continue and we are driven to win. So, at the appropriate time, we'll sit down with Kawhi, and very similar to 2024, lay out our plan. And if our goals are aligned, then we'd like to win with Kawhi."
The Clippers traded away two veterans in February, sending guard James Harden to Cleveland for Darius Garland and a second-round pick and then center Ivica Zubac to Indiana for a package that included Bennedict Mathurin, what ended up being the No. 5 overall pick, a 2029 first-rounder and second-round pick. LA used the No. 5 pick on Illinois guard Keaton Wagler.
For the Raptors, this trade is an attempt to get back into the top tier of the Eastern Conference. They have won just one playoff series since Leonard left (2019-20). They finished 40-36 and in the 5-seed in the East last season, losing in seven games in the first round to the Cavs.
Ingram was acquired by the Raptors in February 2025 and almost immediately signed a three-year, $120 million extension, which includes a player option in 2027-28. He averaged 21.5 points and 5.6 rebounds over 77 regular-season games last season and made the All-Star team, but he dealt with a heel injury during the Cavs series. Dick, the No. 13 overall pick in 2023, played just 14 minutes per game last season and was often dropped from coach Darko Rajaković's rotation.
The Clippers are also under investigation by the NBA that is focused on whether they circumvented the salary cap by funneling money to Leonard through his $28 million endorsement deal with green banking company Aspiration, which also had a $300 million, 23-year endorsement deal with the team. Team owner Steve Ballmer, who invested $60 million in Aspiration, has denied he had knowledge of Leonard's deal.
Leonard and his uncle and business adviser Dennis Robertson have been interviewed by investigators as part of the league's inquiry, according to sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said before the NBA Finals began that it was time to "wrap [the investigation] up."
"The investigation has been conducted by a law firm independent of the NBA," Silver said on June 3. "Yes, ultimately we're paying their bills, but they are doing the work independent of the league office, and my instruction to them is we can't be investigating forever, but at some point, we have to wrap it up. But at the same time, the most important thing is that we get it right."
The Leonard trade marks the end of an era for the Clippers. LA envisioned winning a first-ever NBA championship when the Clippers traded Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, four unprotected first-round picks, one protected first-rounder and two pick swaps to Oklahoma City for Paul George to secure Leonard in free agency on the same night on July 6, 2019. It was the most momentous night in franchise history.
However, the All-Star duo's time together was marred by injuries, load management and playoff disappointment. Leonard and George's first season with the Clippers was interrupted by the COVID pause just as the team was hitting its stride. After the season resumed in the Disney World bubble, the Clippers held a 3-1 second-round lead over the Denver Nuggets before collapsing and losing in seven games in 2020.
The following season was the best finish in the Leonard era as the Clippers reached their first-ever Western Conference finals. However, that conference finals appearance came with Leonard sidelined by a partially torn right ACL suffered in the second-round win over Utah that postseason. Leonard looked dominant at times during that playoff run, averaging 30.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.1 steals and 57.3% shooting before the injury. The Clippers were left to wonder what could have been had Leonard been healthy.
Leonard missed the entire following season of 2021-22 and the Clippers missed the playoffs. The Clippers failed to get out of the first round in three consecutive postseasons after that.
Leonard was dominant at times when he was healthy in the playoffs. He averaged 34.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 54.5% shooting in the first two games of the first round in 2023 but suffered a torn right meniscus that kept him out of the remainder of that series loss to Phoenix.
And in 2024, the Clippers won 51 games but Leonard was limited to just two games in their first-round loss to Dallas due to troublesome inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee.
The Clippers signed Leonard to a three-year, $152 million extension that January before the injury. But they opted to let George walk and sign with the Philadelphia 76ers later that summer in free agency, breaking up the duo after five seasons together.
Leonard and the Clippers won 50 games the following season but lost in seven games to Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets again in the first round in 2025.
Now the Clippers move forward without Leonard. Ballmer, who could not contain his excitement the day the team introduced Leonard and George in July of 2019, built the most modern arena in the NBA in the Intuit Dome. This season, Intuit Dome will open its third season ushering in a new era without Leonard.
ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.