On Wednesday, the Toronto Raptors completed the biggest trade in franchise history, acquriing superstar Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green from the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a first-round pick.
Now, this was not your average Joe of a blockbuster trade. DeRozan took to Instagram and voiced his disappointment in the trade. Leonard requested a trade from the Spurs, and some reports are suggesting he may even sit out as a Raptor.
Given all of the circumstances - and the magnitude of the trade - Twitter had quite a day reacting to the blockbuster.
The Raptors acquire a two-time Defensive Player of the Year who was the anchor of the Spurs for the past five years. Leonard led the Spurs to the 2014 NBA championship and was named Finals MVP. The Raptors are getting a top-five player when healthy, plus a good three-point shooter in Green.
For the Spurs, it sounds like the Raptors offer was a take-it-or-leave-it scenario. ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers were unwilling to part with key young roster players, which eliminated all of them from the Leonard sweepstakes.
In DeRozan, the Spurs have another superstar scorer that will keep this team's championship window open. They lost veteran point guard Tony Parker (signed with the Charlotte Hornets in free agency), and the core roster players are rapidly ageing. DeRozan puts the Spurs in position to reach the playoffs for a 22nd consecutive year.
The Raptors won a franchise-record 59 games in 2017-18, but they were swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the playoffs. Head coach Dwane Casey was fired, and now their franchise star has been traded to the Spurs.
This is going to go down as one of the biggest blockbuster moves in NBA history. We now have to sit back and see how it all plays out.