The biggest trade of the 2018 offseason is still causing shockwaves in the NBA community. On July 18, 2018, the Toronto Raptors acquired disgruntled superstar Kawhi Leonard and swingman Danny Green by sending away DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a future first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs.

This ended the turmoil between Leonard and his former team. It had been widely known that Leonard wanted out of San Antonio for weeks. Rumors flew that Leonard was healthy at times during the 2017-18 regular season and playoffs, but refused to suit up due to what he perceived as mistreatment by the team.

Throughout the season, shaded barbs were directed his way by his own teammates and even renowned coach Gregg Popovich.

Now-Charlotte Hornets point guard Tony Parker, Leonard's teammate at the time, claimed he had suffered the same injury but “a hundred times worse” and still returned much faster.

With his own teammates seemingly not behind him, the San Antonio fan base soon turned its back on Leonard as well. It was painful to have the face of their franchise publicly denounce the team and demand to be traded after having so much past success. Message boards soon filled up with hateful rants toward Leonard.

After the trade, Danny Green was questioned about his character.  Green quickly came to his defense, insisting

“I don’t know how you can hate him. Obviously, you’re disappointed that he wants to be somewhere else but you still have to love the guy for what he’s done for that city.”

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Clippers Kawhi Leonard with speech bubble "I'm back" with Mavericks Luka Doncic smaller in background.

Tomer Azarly ·

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Jackson Stone ·

Green obviously knows Leonard extremely well after playing with him for the past five seasons, and it must have been a relief to Raptors fans for Green to defend Leonard.

The Raptors do not want to look back on this trade as a bust, especially after giving up a local legend in DeRozan. They need a cohesive unit and a focused Leonard if they hope to contend this year, and hopefully, Green's backing can regain trust from Leonard for his teammates.