With the league's investigation closed and the trade expected to go through within days, the focus in Toronto finally shifts to what Leonard looks like on the floor.
Picture the Toronto Raptors walking out for their opener with Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett in the backcourt, Scottie Barnes at one forward spot, Jakob Poeltl in the middle and Kawhi Leonard on the wing.
That group has a closer in it, and anybody who sat through Game 7 against Cleveland last spring knows how badly the old one needed that.
The NBA closed its investigation into the Clippers on Wednesday, and Leonard came out of it with a $700,000 fine but no suspension and his contract left in place, though there is still one legal wrinkle outside the league's control.
ESPN's Shams Charania reported the same day that the full expectation is that the trade will be going through in the next couple of days, and Leonard put out a statement of his own through his agent that ended with the line Toronto had been waiting on.
"As I return to Toronto, I am focused on what I can control, closing this chapter, and moving forward with a clean slate," Leonard said.
What Toronto Is Actually Getting
Leonard is 35 and coming off one of the best seasons of his career.
He averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 65 games for the Clippers, made second team All-NBA and finished seventh in the MVP vote.
Toronto should care about the 65 games as much as the scoring, because it was his highest total since he played 68 in 2023-24 and only his second 60-game season since his title year with the Raptors.
Leonard was the Finals MVP in 2019, and the city has never let go of that run.
He has one year left at $50.3 million, according to ESPN, and Charania reported in July that the two sides were expected to open extension talks.
Where He Fits Next to Barnes
Toronto went 46-36 and finished fifth in the East last season with a defense that ranked fifth in the league, then lost a seven-game first-round series to the Cavaliers.
Barnes averaged 18.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists, Barrett scored 19.3 a night and Quickley put up 16.4 points and 5.9 assists.
What that group never had was somebody who could get his own bucket with the clock running down.
None of this came cheap.
Brandon Ingram led the team at 21.5 points per game over 77 games and Gradey Dick averaged 6.0, and both are headed to Los Angeles along with unprotected 2031 and 2033 first-round picks, a 2027 swap and two second-rounders.
Losing Ingram's scoring will look bad on paper for a while, but Leonard brings more of it and better defense on the wing, and Barnes finally gets to play as a passer instead of creating everything late.
The Calendar From Here
Camps open Sept. 29 and the regular season starts Oct. 20, so the deal should close well before Leonard has to be at a Raptors practice.
The one question left is the middle, because Poeltl played 46 games last season and the front office is still looking at the center spot.
The rest comes down to whether a 35-year-old who just played 65 games can do it again, and Toronto is about to bet two unprotected firsts that he can.
