A thought struck me about the Kawhi deal. I've seen a lot of comparisons to the Vince trade, when Mourning refused to report. I think those comparisons are spot on - and at the same time, completely wrong.
Every parallel I've seen drawn is a fear of the Mourning situation repeating itself. You trade a star who "is the Raptors" for an uncertain return, and a big name who doesn't want to be here. There is a fear of history repeating itself.
I understand those fears, but I see a completely different parallel to that trade. Kawhi isn't Mourning. He's Vince. Mysterious lingering injuries, clashes with management and ownership, close family seeming to be a complicating factor in the relationship with the team...
The way I see it, the Kawhi trade is the return on some good basketball karma for Raptors fans. Over the past few years, the city has largely forgiven Vince for his actions. He's started getting cheers rather than boos.
The Raptors suffered through the wilderness post-Vince, losing yet another star in Bosh to the long running story of bad management and players not staying, adding to the list of Stoudamire and McGrady and, of course, Vince.
And then Masai got here and reversed all the narratives. Good management instead of bad. Good ownership instead of bad. Players stayed - and in spite of the narratives lately, it wasn't just DeMar. It wasn't even him first. First it was Lowry.
And then DeMar, and Lowry again, and Serge. And now Masai has reversed the biggest story in Raptors history. We're living the Vince trade all over again. From the opposite direction. And because of all this good karma, both sides of this reversed deal are doing better.
The Raptors are getting a bigger star than the Nets got - Vince was a megawatt star in terms of drawing eyes, but he wasn't the championship-driving superstar that Kawhi can be. The Spurs are getting a lottery prospect and an all star who will actually report.
Now, just like the Raptors didn't get the return they needed for Vince, the Spurs probably didn't get the return they needed for Kawhi. And ultimately the Nets certainly won that Vince trade.
So, personally, I'm looking at this deal as a long awaited return on emotional investment for Raptors fans. Unfortunately, the emotional response of the fanbases were flipped relative to the deal (just like in the Vince deal, it's Raptors fans who are sad and angry)...
This is just the final emotional cost of our collective return on investment. And this season, we'll be reaping that return, as Raptors fans will get to experience again the effect of a true superstar on the city. Only this time with good management and a good team around him.
And there's no person I'd rather bet on continuing to reverse our long story of failure to keep stars in free agency than Masai Ujiri, who has been reversing Raptors narratives since the day he got here.
Last season I was advocating for Vince to come back to wrap up this story. I was wrong about that. Vince played his part (one that I hope will be recognized by the team at some point, just like DeMar's).
This trade is Masai's gambit to finally tie a bow on the Vince story. If Leonard has success here this year, Masai has already won the trade. But if he somehow stays long term, Masai will have won that gambit as well, and forever closed the saddest chapter of Raptors history.
