The LA Clippers have agreed to trade All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a 2027 first-round pick swap and two second-round picks, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.
The deal marks a return to Canada for the star who led the Raptors to an NBA title in 2019, winning Finals MVP after he averaged 28.5 points per game in the victory over the Golden State Warriors.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Leonard return to Toronto, especially if the Raptors are willing to sign him to a two-year, $123.7 million extension. Furthermore, the team boasts a lot of promising young talent, namely Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, and rookie Allen Graves, whom they drafted 19th overall.
Just barely a month after firing their head coach, Mike Malone and “essentially” letting go of their GM, Calvin Booth, the Denver Nuggets are advancing to the semis of the 2025 NBA Playoffs (120 – 101) and will face the OKC Thunders, who swept their series against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Nuggets defeated a healthy Clippers that includes a resurging Kawhi Leonard, a conditioned James Harden and improved Ivica Zubac. In their last outing, Leonard scored a team high 22 points and 5 rebounds, Harden only scored 7 points with 5 rebounds and 13 assists, but both player did not impact the game as people are expecting from the two superstars.
It was a close game until the last 3 minutes, where the Nuggets was able to build an 11-point lead to end the first half (47 – 58). In the 3rd, the Nuggets went on a 17 to nothing run, to create a 25 point lead with 7:30 still remaining in the quarter and basically ran away with the game.
Aaron Gordon lead Denver with 22 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, followed by Christian Braun, who added 22 points with 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Aside from his production, Braun also provided the much needed defence against Harden. Denver’s best player Nikola Jokic was flirting with a triple-double game with his scored 16 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, and basically sat-put the whole 4th quarter.
Aaron Gordon's 22-point performance leads the @nuggets to a Game 7 win at home!
In the post game interview, âIn playoffs we know that everybody needs to step up, offensively, defensively, whatever, energy-wise. And everybody who plays needs to contribute something,” Jokic giving Braun his flowers, âIt was special today the guys did that.â
Denver will be facing a well rested OKC Thunder, this Tuesday, May 6th at the Paycom Center, OKC.
The USA Basketball has officially announced the 12-man roster of the 2024 USA Basketball Menâs National Team for this year’s Summer Olympic bound for Paris. The team was selected by USA Basketball Menâs National Team managing director Grant Hill and approved by the USA Basketball Board of Directors.
The 2024 USA Menâs National Team will be led by head coach Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors), who is assisted by Mark Few (Gonzaga University), Tyronn Lue (L.A. Clippers) and Erik Spoelstra (Miami Heat). Last summer, the quartet coached the 2023 USA Basketball Menâs National Team to a fourth-place finish at the 2023 FIBA Menâs World Cup in Manila.
The team boasts of 12 NBA All-Stars, four NBA MVPs and six NBA champions, as for their international experience, the team brings a combined 11 Olympic appearances and owns 10 Olympic gold medals as well as three FIBA World Cup titles. Talent-wise, we can say that the 2024 Dream team can be compared to the 1992 Dream Team, as for their performance, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
If you want to see the team in action, USA Basketball will commence training camp on July 6 in Las Vegas. Following the game vs. Canada, the Americans will embark on an international training window that begins when the USA hosts Australia and Serbia on July 15 and 17, respectively, at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Australia and Serbia will also face off on July 18 in Abu Dhabi.
The Los Angeles Clippers pulled off two major acquisitions late Friday night, as ESPN and The Athletic reported that free agent forward Kawhi Leonard will sign with the team, which also acquired forward Paul George in a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Leonard received a four-year, $142 million maximum contract.
In order to acquire George, the Clippers will send guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and forward Danilo Gallinari to Oklahoma City. The Thunder also will receive four unprotected first-round draft picks, one protected first-round pick and two draft-pick swaps, according to the ESPN report.
