The two teams that wanted Kawhi Leonard amid Clippers scandal before Raptors trade

Kawhi Leonard might have been in the middle of an NBA investigation in June, but he still had plenty of suitors outside the Toronto Raptors interested in acquiring him.

With the NBA finally ending the investigation into the LA Clippers and Leonard over cap circumvention with a historic punishment, everyone can finally move on in time for the new NBA season.

Even when the investigation was at its peak, and the Clippers traded Leonard to Toronto, there were multiple suitors that wanted the All-NBA forward despite the question marks around his future.

Shams Charania revealed that Leonard chose the Raptors as his next destination, as the Clippers also had acceptable offers from the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves for Kawhi’s services.

“This is a complete legacy play for Kawhi. There were teams — Detroit, Minnesota — and others that had interest in trading for him, that wanted to trade for him, that wanted to give him an extension. But he made a decision because he had one year left on his deal to essentially weed out where he wanted to play, where he wanted to be. And so this is a legacy play for Kawhi Leonard. There’s no doubt about it.”

This made sense as a legacy play, even if the Pistons or Timberwolves might have given him a more immediate pathway to title contention.

The Raptors are the biggest aggrieved party from the Clippers circumventing the cap for Leonard, as Kawhi left them in the summer of 2019 to join LA.

Sending him back there helps the Clippers limit the damage they caused while allowing Leonard to rebuild his legacy with the one fanbase that still loves him.

Leonard averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.9 steals last season, the best-scoring season of his career.

It’s no surprise that two title contenders like Detroit and Minnesota would have wanted to add Leonard to bolster their rosters, but it’s also no surprise that Leonard chose Toronto as his next destination given the circumstances.