Kawhi Leonard is the star of the Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs trade. However, the Raptors are receiving another talented player in Danny Green as well. When Adrian Wojornowski initially reported the deal sending Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors for DeMar DeRozan, the specifics were not still unknown. We knew San Antonio would need to send out additionally salary in order to make the deal work, however, it was unclear if the salary Toronto received would be of any use. As It turns out, Toronto not only received San Antonio’s star small forward, but their starting shooting guard as well. Danny Green is a 31-year old, nine-year veteran who has started the last 6.5 seasons for the Spurs. An experienced college player, Green spent four seasons at the University of North Carolina before declaring for the NBA. Even during his senior season, Green never dominated in college. In his final year in tar-heel blue, he was the fourth best player of a National Championship team. (Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, and Wayne Ellington were the other three incase you were wondering). After his National Championship season, Green was selected with the 46th pick in the 2009 draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Green was selected mostly due to his championship pedigree and three-point shooting capabilities, his defensive capabilities largely remained a mystery at that time. After playing just one season and 20 games for the Cavaliers, Green was cut. Green’s offensive skill-set was very limited and his lack of elite athleticism theoretically capped his defensive upside. But like so many times before, the Spurs found treasure in someone else’s trash. Coach Gregg Popovich played to Green’s strengths, not his weaknesses, and in under two seasons Green went from the waiver wire to a starter on a 50-win team. Since that time Green has been a consistent cog in the San Antonio machine, providing the Spurs with the same steady play for six-plus seasons. But what did he provide to the Spurs, and what will he be providing to the Toronto Raptors?<doc-sep>The Toronto Raptors‘ Kawhi Leonard era will officially begin this week, when the elusive star is set to make his first appearance in his new city for team physicals. But the generational phenom, who’s been the talk of the NBA for the past 48 hours, won’t come alone. The deal that sent DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl to Texas brings in Leonard and longtime Spur Danny Green, one of the longest-tenured names on San Antonio’s roster up until Wednesday’s blockbuster. Green’s near-decade-long commitment to the Spurs is well-established, perhaps rivalling even DeRozan’s love of Toronto. Undrafted, cut twice, the veteran eventually found his way, becoming a Spurs staple. Just last month, Green passed up the chance to test free agency, exercising his $10-million option to stay in San Antonio. Now that’s simply a footnote on his career timeline, with a significant change upcoming. But the 31-year-old appears to harbour no ill will towards the organization he fought to cling to. “Change can be good,” Green said Thursday to the San Antonio Express-News‘ Jeff McDonald. “I’m not mad at all. I understand the business side of it. I understand what (the Spurs) had to do.” For their part, it seems San Antonio wasn’t exactly thrilled to part with Green. “It was tough, because he has come such a long way. You know, we cut him twice, and over the years he turned into Danny Green,” head coach Gregg Popovich said of the deal. “In trades, money has to match to a certain degree and that limits you to certain players that have to be included. In this case, that fell upon Danny.” There’s bound to be a bit of tension for the San Antonio duo heading north together, with the relationship between Leonard and the Spurs — initially a promising match — descending into enough toxicity to force the organization to ship their all-world star out of town. And Green along with him, just to make the numbers work. Green said he’s still not exactly clear on how it got to this point. “It was an awkward situation,” he said. “His decision, I still don’t know exactly what happened.” Regardless, he’s confident Leonard and the Raptors can find success together in this next chapter of both parties’ history. “Despite the (Leonard) rumours, basketball is basketball,” Green told McDonald. “There’s going to be a magnifying glass on him now. He’s going to be expected to do great things. I’m going to do all I can to help. “We have a chance to do something special up there.”<doc-sep>The San Antonio Spurs are finalizing a trade Wednesday to send All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors, league sources tell the Express-News. The Raptors are sending All-Star DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a 2019 first-round pick to the Spurs, and Danny Green is heading the other way with Leonard. In DeRozan, the Spurs get a player who has disappointed in recent playoff runs but easily ranks as one of the greatest players and leaders in Raptors history. In sharp contrast to Leonard, he has shown fierce loyalty to Toronto, a city that other players have sometimes shunned. SPURS INSIDER: 'He's very demanding': An in-depth look at what it's like to play for coach Pop from ExpressNews.com's Jabari Young A 6-foot-7 shooting guard, DeRozan averaged 23.0 points and 5.2 assists last season while appearing in 80 games, earning his fourth trip to the All-Star Game, this time in his hometown of Los Angeles. The nine-year veteran, who turns 29 on Aug. 7, has been an All-Star the last three straight seasons and owns career averages of 19.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.0 steals. DeRozan has three years left on the five-year contract he signed with the Raptors on July 14, 2016, with the 2020-21 a player option. He is scheduled to earn $27.7 million in 2018-19. A native of Vienna, Austria, Poeltl is a 7-foot, 248-pound center who will give the Spurs some much needed depth at center. In 82 games last season, he averaged 6.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks. His career averages over two seasons are 5.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 0.9 blocks. SPURS INSIDER: An in-depth look at what the Kawhi-to-Toronto trade means for the Spurs from the Express-News' Jeff McDonald Poeltl has two years left on the rookie deal he signed on October 16, 2017 and is set to earn $2.9 million next season. Leonard appeared in only nine games for the Spurs last season while nursing a mysterious quadriceps injury, which began his downward spiral with the Spurs organization. He originally was injured in the 2017 Western Conference Finals and missed the final four games of his team's playoff run. During the recovery process, Leonard reportedly became disgruntled with the organization due to the way his rehabilitation was handled and his decision to get a second opinion on the injury. Spurs guard Tony Parker later said that his own quadriceps injury was "a hundred times worse," and a team meeting was held late in the season to address those issues with Leonard. Despite the ongoing drama surrounding Leonard during the season, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and the two-time All-Star met in San Diego in mid-June. The Spurs faithful hoped the meeting could secure Leonard's future with the organization the same way a similar meeting between Popovich and forward LaMarcus Aldridge did last summer. RISING STAR: ExpressNews.com beat writer Tom Orsborn breaks down what Dejounte Murray needs to do this summer to elevate his game It didn't happen, though, and the Spurs began to take calls on their disgruntled superstar just before the June 21 NBA draft. Still, the night following the draft, general manager R.C. Buford said the team's No. 1 goal would be to mend the relationship with the 26-year-old Leonard, who would have become eligible for a five-year, $219 million extension if he resigned with the Spurs. It didn't happen. Instead, Leonard can now become an unrestricted free agent in 2019 if he does not sign an extension with the Raptors. That extension would be for $31 million less than the Spurs could have offered. The Spurs had also received interest in Leonard from the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers. In his seven seasons with the Spurs, Leonard had blossomed into a two-time All-Star, averaging 25.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game in the 2016-17 season. In 2014, Leonard was named the Finals MVP for the Spurs in their 4-1 series win over the Miami Heat, giving San Antonio it's fifth NBA title. NTalbot@express-news.net<doc-sep>The NBA world has been waiting to see where Kawhi Leonard will end up, and we now have our answer. The San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors have completed a multiplayer trade centering around Leonard and fellow All-Star DeMar DeRozan. Toronto will receive Leonard and Danny Green in exchange for DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round draft pick. Shortly after the news of a possible trade broke overnight, DeRozan posted what appears to be a response on Instagram, and he didn't seem too happy. There was also a relatively quick response from Leonard's camp, indicating that he has no desire to play in Toronto. Leonard has reportedly expressed his desire to return to his native Southern California to play for either the Lakers or the Clippers, but last week the Raptors emerged as the odds-on favorite to land the disgruntled Spurs star, according to at least one oddsmaker, possibly because of the Lakers' reported reluctance to include Brandon Ingram in any potential deal. Acquiring DeRozan, an established All-NBA player, is in line with the Spurs' reported intention of remaining competitive in the post-Kawhi world rather than bottoming out and playing for draft picks. A one-two punch of DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge would keep San Antonio very much alive in the Western Conference playoff race. Meanwhile it's an incredibly risky move for the Raptors, who would be giving up a homegrown star under contract until 2021 in exchange for Leonard, who is fully expected to opt out of his deal and become a free agent in the summer of 2019. Perhaps Toronto can convince Leonard to re-sign with them over the course of the season, much like the Thunder did with Paul George, but if Leonard leaves next summer the team would have gotten rid of DeRozan for essentially nothing. Despite continued regular-season success, something clearly needed to change in Toronto after being eliminated by LeBron James and the Cavaliers in three straight postseasons. The team fired 2017-18 NBA Coach of the Year Dwane Casey and their arch nemesis left their conference, but apparently that wasn't enough. Now it looks like the Raptors will roll the dice on a superstar with questionable health who apparently doesn't even want to be there. Talk about going all in.<doc-sep>
Kawhi Leonard and DeMar DeRozan headlined the blockbuster trade between the San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors but there was another significant piece involved in the deal that seems to have been overlooked. Danny Green will be joining Leonard in Toronto and it ends his eight-year association with the Spurs. The shooting guard could've hit free agency this summer but instead, he exercised the player option on his contract and chose to continue his career in San Antonio. But the franchise had other ideas and had to include him in the deal to finally end the long-running Kawhi saga. End of an era Though they may be relieved to have finally put this to bed, letting go of Green wasn't something they did easily. Gregg Popovich described just how hard it was to part ways with the veteran. “It was tough, because he has come such a long way,” Popovich said, per Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio-Express-News. “You know we cut him twice, and over the years he turned into Danny Green.” After being drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009, the 31-year-old didn't last long there as he was waived just a year later. He was picked up by the Spurs in 2010 and he eventually went on to forge a solid NBA career with the Texas-based franchise. Green played a major role in their 2014 championship win as he shot lights out from three-point range throughout the playoffs. Last season, he was the second-longest tenured player on the team's roster after Manu Ginobili. The news initially hit him hard but he quickly came round to the idea and why the team made the decision to offload him. “Change can be good,” Green said. “I’m not mad at all. I understand the business side of it. I understand what (the Spurs) had to do.” Popovich explained that they had little choice but to include the swingman in the deal to make it work financially for both teams. “In trades, money has to match to a certain degree and that limits you to certain players that have to be included,” Popovich said. “In this case, that fell upon Danny.” But the All-Defensive guard has been sent to a team that may have a better chance of making it to the finals than the Spurs next season. The two new additions make the Raptors serious contenders to win the east and Green is excited about what they can achieve in Canada. “We have a chance to do something special up there,” he said. It was hard for Popovich to let his trusted three-point marksman go but he may have given him a better opportunity to be successful north of the border. CLICK HERE to listen to Episode Two of the new GiveMeSport NBA podcast, featuring New York Times senior writer Marc Stein. Subscribe for all future episodes. News Now - Sport News