Here's what the Toronto Raptors are getting in a 35-year-old Kawhi Leonard

After months of waiting, Kawhi Leonard is officially a Toronto Raptor again.

Toronto's June 30 trade with the Los Angeles Clippers for the two-time NBA Finals MVP was finally processed Monday, reuniting Leonard with the team he led to an NBA title seven years ago.

Kawhi is returning to Toronto at a pretty good time, with the Raptors coming off their best season in six years. A shorthanded team, without Immanuel Quickley and Brandon Ingram, pushed the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in the first round of the playoffs.

There's no doubt that series showed Toronto that it needed another difference-maker on the court. And with Leonard entering the final year of his contract with the Clippers, pursuing him this offseason appeared to be a no-brainer for the Raptors' front office.

Like the Raptors, Leonard is also coming off one of his best seasons in recent years.

The 35-year-old played 65 games with the Clippers last season, averaging 27.9 points per game and posting the third-best offensive efficiency numbers of his career.

Kawhi Leonard averaged 27.9 points per game with the Los Angeles Clippers last season. (Dan Hamilton/Imagn Images)

Only four NBA players last season — Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama and Cade Cunningham — had a higher offensive rating than Leonard's 120.3.

That's exactly what the Raptors believe they're getting with this trade.

An elite, NBA All-Star-level forward who is still among the league's best when it comes to scoring. But beyond Leonard's offensive ability, Raptors fans could see his most significant impact on the defensive side of the ball.

Last season, Leonard finished among the top five in the NBA in steals, averaging 1.9 per game.

Toronto was a middle-of-the-pack team in the NBA in steals last season, and the addition of Leonard, alongside Scottie Barnes and Quickley, should help propel the Raptors toward becoming one of the league's best teams at taking the ball away from opponents.

Players with over 725 points in a playoff run:

— MJ
— LeBron
— Raptors Kawhi Leonard

He's back. pic.twitter.com/m4m1MorvTX

— StatMuse (@statmuse) September 14, 2026

Overall, Leonard's game has seen a slight decline defensively compared to seven years ago, when he brought this franchise its first NBA title.

In three of his last four seasons, Leonard has posted the worst defensive rating numbers of his career. Last season in particular, he allowed an estimated 114 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, which was a near 10-point decline from his previous stint with Toronto.

The only player in the Raptors' starting five last season with a worse defensive rating than Leonard was Ingram.

Of course, defensive efficiency depends heavily on the players around you, and that's where Leonard's numbers could turn around.

As fans saw in the playoffs last season, the Raptors also have a two-headed defensive monster in Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles, two players capable of guarding all five positions who could take some of the pressure off Leonard when they're on the floor together.

Leonard's stats show that he isn't the same player he was a decade ago, when he could lock down almost anyone in the league while carrying an offence. But Kawhi has proved in recent seasons that he's still one of the league's best scorers, whose style of play can consistently make the players around him better.

And after everything the Raptors gave up to land him, that's exactly the version they'll need.