Kawhi Leonard lands $115M Raptors extension after two-month trade freeze
Toronto locks in the 35-year-old on a two-year deal months after a league probe stalled the trade — here's the fantasy ripple, starting with Brandon Ingram.
New Raptors focal point at RANK #48; his trend is quietly climbing.
- Two-year, $115M extension with a 2028-29 player option
- Leonard averaged 27.9 PPG, 1.9 STL in 65 games last year
- Waived his full 15% trade kicker to finalize the deal
- Toronto sent Ingram, Dick + picks to LAC for Leonard
- Ingram: our rank #48, 35.9 FPTS/G last season (2025-26)
Kawhi Leonard's Toronto limbo is over. The 35-year-old agreed to a two-year, $115 million extension with the Raptors, a deal that carries a player option for the 2028-29 season — and it lands eight days after Toronto finally closed a trade the two sides had agreed to back on June 30, then sat on for more than two months.
The holdup wasn't cold feet. A league investigation into whether the Clippers used outside endorsement deals to skirt the salary cap kept the whole thing frozen from July 9 onward. Leonard, who's owed $50.3 million this season on the last year of his prior deal, waived his full 15% trade kicker to grease the wheels. He's coming off a 65-game campaign — nearly double his 37-game run the year before — with 27.9 points and 1.9 steals a night and an All-NBA second-team nod.
For a guy whose availability has defined his fantasy value for years, that 65-game number is the headline. Kawhi playing three-quarters of a season is a very different asset than the load-managed ghost of recent years. But drafters should still treat him as a high-ceiling, moderate-risk pick until Toronto's rotation shakes out.
The Fantasy Fallout in Toronto
The trade cost Toronto real fantasy pieces. Brandon Ingram went the other way in the original framework, but he's the name that matters most for your roster — our model has him at rank #48 (#18 among forwards) off a 21.5/5.6/3.7 line and 35.9 fantasy points per game last season (2025-26). His last five games ran +3.1 versus his season average, so the arrow's pointing up. If you can pry him loose while managers are distracted by the Kawhi noise, do it.
Gradey Dick was the other outgoing piece, and his stock is thin — rank #349, just 10.8 fantasy points per game last season (2025-26) with a -6.5 recent-form dip. He's a deep-league dart throw at best. Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet ghosts of the 2019 title run are long gone from this equation; VanVleet is a Rocket now (rank #80, 31.4 FPTS/G in 2024-25).
Bottom line: Leonard's a wait-and-see for now — grab him if the price reflects the injury history, not the ceiling. The cleaner move is buying low on Ingram, who profiles as a stable top-50 producer with a rising trend. That's the actionable edge here while everyone else stares at the headline.
