Trade & Free Agency 2026/2027

[Scott41theMavs]

Josh Lewenberg: Given the recent discourse and the length of the investigation, I can understand the skepticism, but the reality is that the likelihood of Kawhi becoming a Raptor hasn't changed. Would still incur a massive penalty (voiding the contract or a max suspension) to jeopardize the trade. Possible but don't see it. Voiding the contract would punish the league as much as it would punish Kawhi, and the only players who have ever been suspended 30+ games either punched a fan or brought guns into the locker room. NBA would need to build one hell of a case against Kawhi to drop the hammer on him. As I noted yesterday, Raptors wouldn't necessarily need to wait on arbitration for the trade to be completed. If they're comfortable inheriting whatever Kawhi discipline the league hands down, they could theoretically sign off on the deal (or renegotiate) before appeals are heard.

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As egregious as those examples are, circumventing the salary cap by many millions of dollars isn't great for the league either. 

What a mess. And more than Mr. Lewenberg is making it out to be.