If you truly believe the Toronto Raptors are dumb for trading DeMar DeRozan, then you may be the dumb one here, not the Raptors.

This was easily the best trade the Raptors have ever made in the teams history. Typically Toronto has shipped it’s best player out of town and received very little in return. This time the Raptors traded a mid-level all-star for one of the leagues best in Kawhi Leonard.

Instant Upgrade

Based on pure talent alone, this trade was genius. Kawhi Leonard is a better overall shooter, better defender, and has a Championship pedigree. Kawhi is a two-time NBA all-star, two-time defensive player of the year, three-time NBA all-defensive first team, NBA all-defensive second team, NBA Champion, and most importantly, an NBA Finals MVP.

Why is the NBA Finals MVP most important? Because it means that Kawhi doesn’t wilt in the Playoffs, such as the man we traded away to get Leonard. I love DeMar as much as the next fan, but DeRozan once famously said, “you find someone who can stop LeBron in these moments, and I’ll give you $100.” That’s not someone I want to ride with during the playoffs.

Related: Masai Ujiri’s Presser Was Perfect And Kawhi Leonard Is In Toronto For His Physical. Can You Imagine If He Fails?

And let’s not forget the importance of Danny Green in this trade either. Green is a great perimeter shooter, something the Raptors struggle with, and is a great defender as well (2017 NBA all-defensive second team). He too has a Championship pedigree, as both an NBA and NCAA Champion.

So now you have two-players who can help guide a young talented team through the murky waters of the NBA Playoffs, two players who have been there and done that, and two players who have shown that they don’t crumble when it counts.

And what did you have trade away to get that? DeMar DeRozan, who has consistently shown that he can’t be relied upon come playoff time, a young Center that has started four-games in two-years, and a protected first-round pick.

I’ll take that all-day.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlX3SFFDX7N/?taken-by=thescore

Worst-Case Scenario

Kawhi Leonard doesn’t want to play in Toronto, and he leaves after one-year.

Who cares?

I’m not sure why this bothers so many people. If he chooses to leave, which I believe he will, he and Green’s contracts are both off the books. Which frees up about $30M in cap space. That means Toronto can chase after any big name free-agent in 2019. Or they can choose to rebuild around their young core. They literally can’t lose here.

Kawhi won’t play for Toronto

This is pure nonsense. Yes he will.

Related: Kawhi Leonard is “Furious, Does Not Want To Play For Toronto’ and willing to ‘Sit Out’ the year.

If he doesn’t, he will lose out on a lot of money. And no one is going to sacrifice losing millions of dollars over one-year. Not to mention, he’s looking to get a contract from someone else next season. So he’s going to play, and he’s going to ball out in order to make that money somewhere else.

The ceiling was reached

People who are mad with this trade will tell you that this move is very short-sighted. They couldn’t be more wrong. The Raptors team, as it was before the trade, had hit it’s ceiling. It was quite clear that competing for a Finals wasn’t something they were capable of doing.

Even with LeBron out of the picture, you still have to face a healthy Celtics and 76ers squad. Which most people forget the Celtics didn’t have Kyrie Irving or Gordon Hayward during the playoffs this past season. So if you struggled to beat a one-player team in the Cavaliers, what makes you think they could have beaten two teams with stacked rosters?

No loyalty in a million dollar game

When DeMar found out that he was traded, he instantly took to social media, and posted something in regards to there being no loyalty in this game. But of course there isn’t. There’s no loyalty when millions of dollars are on the line.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlYnrn5Dp47/?taken-by=thescore

That’s why I don’t get upset when players leave teams, because they don’t owe those teams anything, just like the teams don’t owe the players anything. It’s business. It sucks, but that’s the way it works sometimes. So make your money while you can, and get out rich.

Final thought

This trade makes the Raptors something they weren’t prior to this trade, Finals contenders. With Lowry, Green, Leonard, Anunoby, and Valanciunas, Toronto has a legitimate starting five that can do work in the playoffs. This team was about two-years from being blown up anyway, so why not give yourself at least one-shot to legitimately go to a Final? This was a great trade for the city, and I can’t wait to see all the people griping over this trade, wearing their Leonard jerseys come playoff time.