Not a few heads were scratched and jaws that dropped on the floor when news broke on Wednesday that the Toronto Raptors have acquired Kawhi Leonard via a trade with the San Antonio Spurs. To get the swingman, the Raps gave up then-face-of-franchise DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a future protected draft pick.

Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri pulled the trigger on the trade despite previous knowledge that Leonard does not consider Toronto as a happy place to be in, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca.

According to multiple reports that began to surface shortly after the trade was leaked, Leonard isn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of moving north and playing in Toronto. That news wasn’t a surprise to Ujiri, who was made aware of Leonard’s reservations with joining the Raptors before pulling the trigger on the deal, league sources tell TSN. Yet, he did it anyway.

The insistence of Ujiri to get Kawhi Leonard at the expense of losing Toronto’s franchise player was a sign that the Raptors’ front office did not think that the team is going to win a title with DeRozan at the helm of things on the court. A change of scenery was needed. First, the Raptors pulled the plug on Coach of the Year winner Dwane Casey. Several weeks later, they let go of DeRozan.

Ujiri is merely expecting Leonard to act like a professional, stomach his new situation for at least a year, and cooperate with the team next season. It’s certainly good news that Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN had noted that Leonard is starting to like the idea of playing north of the border.

Ujiri also knows that Leonard can leave in the summer of 2019 when the defensive ace can ditch his player option for the 2019-20 season and hit free agency, but it was a gamble the general manager felt was worth taking — one that gives Toronto a time window of one year to win it all with Leonard in the mix.