Blake Murphy Sports Writing

Welcome​ to another edition of​ Raptors​ Reasonablists with Eric Koreen​ and Blake Murphy. Throughout​​ the year, lead NBA writer Koreen and regular contributor Murphy discuss hot-button issues surrounding the Raptors, but with an even-keeled approach in pursuit of finding reasonable middle ground. If we have faith in anything, it is that reasonable middle grounds lead to: a) workable long-term solutions; b) increased empathy and understanding for others; and c) more wins — at least more wins when they truly matter — probably. We hold these truths to be self-evident, and we hold these truths to be good truths.

KOREEN: As of Thursday morning, the Raptors were even-money favourites at OddsShark to employ the services of Kawhi Leonard next year. They have better odds than the Spurs, better odds than the Lakers, betters odds than the 76ers, better odds than the Celtics, better odds than every other team.

To which I say: What in the holy hell?

It is very easy to put together a theoretical trade between the Raptors and Spurs right now, as the Raptors are one of the few teams that might have incentive to send an all-star making an all-star’s salary to San Antonio in a Leonard swap. Whether it is DeMar DeRozan, as everybody is assuming because of his Instagram behaviour, or Kyle Lowry is beside the point for now, although for a bunch of reasons I’d predict DeRozan. If the Spurs want an entrenched star, even if he is flawed, the Raptors are one of the most likely candidates to be able to pull off such a move.