Miami Heat: What Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors means for the team

How will the Kawhi Leonard trade affect the Miami Heat?

It’s official: Kawhi Leonard is now a Toronto Raptor.  

Living in Toronto, I can definitely see the excitement behind grabbing the former Finals MVP. While the price involved giving up DeMar DeRozan, who some would call ‘the best Raptor of all-time,’ is questionable, Leonard is still in talks of being a top five player in this league.

So DeRozan is a San Antonio Spur and Leonard is a Raptor; so weird to say and definitely will take time to get used to (granted, as soon as you get used to it, he could be bolting for Los Angeles).

But what does this mean for the Miami Heat?

First of all, it could’ve been a lot worse. Had Philadelphia or Boston landed him, places where Leonard could actually re-sign, that could doomed the Eastern Conference for years to come.

However, if you look at it from a pessimistic point of view, things will stay exactly the same. Chances are the Heat were going to be behind the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Toronto Raptors (with or without this trade), and maybe even the Washington Wizards, Milwaukee Bucks, and Indiana Pacers.

A team led by Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside wasn’t reasonably going to take on Boston’s depth, Toronto’s newly acquired weapon, or Philadelphia’s youthful star power.

If you’re the dreamer that I am, you imagine a world where Leonard refuses to report to the Raptors, holds out into training camp because he’s disgruntled, and eventually suits up but never performs for the Toronto squad.

That propels the Heat into potentially having home-court advantage in a playoff series, using the vibrant Miami crowd to sweep through the East, and meet LeBron James in the Finals where head coach Erik Spoelstra unveils his ‘Stopping LeBron for Dummies’  book he’s been working on since James left.

Chances are, reality falls somewhere between the two.

But moving forward, this could get interesting.

Most likely, Leonard will play his year out in Toronto, opt out of his contract, and make his way to Los Angeles to play with the Sacramento Kings or become a Clipper.

Miami most likely will not be an option for him, considering the lack of cap space and his adamant stance on going to Los Angeles.

But it’s president Pat Riley and owner Micky Arison; surely they can get general manager Andy Elisberg to work his cap space voodoo and make some money appear out of thin air. Or at the very least get Leonard in the building for a meeting, right?

(I’ll stop daydreaming for a second.)

With the Raptors out of the way, health issues with Joel Embiid, and no commitment from Kyrie Irving that he’ll stay with the Celtics, we could be looking at a shake-up at the top of the East.

Yes, Giannis Antetokounmpo will still be the best player in the conference. But so far, the Bucks have made zero successful attempts at capitalizing on his stardom. The Wizards are now relying on Dwight Howard to shore up their locker room issues. And the Pacers? Well, I actually like what they did in the off-season…

Suddenly, next year, Whiteside, Dragic and Tyler Johnson have expiring deals. Making them a little more attractive in trade scenarios. Make a couple moves here and there; suddenly the 2020 timeline moves up to 2019.

Couple that with the expected development of Justise Winslow (who many actually optimistically compared to Leonard), Josh Richardson and Bam Adebayo, and the Miami Heat could be looking at a foundation that could lead them to a top three seed by next year.

Next: Miami Heat 1-on-1: Is Dion Waiters an integral part of the team's success?

Leonard to Toronto might not be such a bad thing for the fans of the 305…