Five first-round picks, a $30 million fine and a one year suspension for Steve Ballmer landed on the Clippers on Wednesday, but the number the Raptors care about most is $700,000.
That is what Kawhi Leonard has to pay now that the investigation is mostly closed, with no suspension and no voided contract, and it removes the last reason Toronto had to wait on the trade agreed to in June.
The deal is not official as of Friday morning, with the league waiting on the two teams to send in the paperwork according to Sports Illustrated, and ESPN's Shams Charania said it is expected to go through within days.
Once it does, a roster that won 46 games without him should be called a contender with him.
The Raptors finished 46-36 and fifth in the East last season with the fifth-ranked defense in the league, and they pushed Cleveland to seven games in the first round.
That Cleveland team then beat Detroit in seven, so Toronto was a couple of plays from a real run with a group that ranked 15th in offensive rating and 21st in scoring.
The defense was never the problem, but nobody could get a bucket late, even as Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett each averaged 24.1 points against the Cavaliers.
There has been talk about what this roster is still missing as a championship core , but the biggest gap was a closer, and Leonard is the answer.
Leonard is 35 with a long injury history, and two unprotected firsts and a swap for a player that age is a risk.
But he averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 65 games , made the All-NBA Second Team, and finished seventh in MVP voting, so this is not a name bought on reputation alone.
He replaces Brandon Ingram, who led Toronto at 21.5 points a game but scored 12 a night in the playoffs, and he is a two-time Finals MVP who already won a title in this city.
In his statement on Wednesday, Leonard said, "For 15 years, my priority has been giving everything to my family, the game, and those I share the court with."
Barnes, Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl will share it with him now, and each fits better next to a star who takes the hardest shots.
Expectations for his second run in Toronto will be heavy, and he has handled that before.
The Knicks are the champions and swept Cleveland in the conference finals, so they sit alone at the top.
Detroit won 60 games and lost in the second round, Boston won 56 and lost in the first, and Cleveland won 52.
Philadelphia absolutely stacked their team and look like the favorite in the East.
Toronto won 46 and still took Cleveland to seven, so add a 27.9 point scorer to the fifth-best defense and there is no way to leave the Raptors out of that group.
The front office still has to finish the deal and settle the extension question , and health will decide the spring, but on paper this is a top-four team in the East.
