Keukenhof 2026 Is OPEN 🌷 | March 19 – May 10 [4K]

Here we go. We're walking over to the other side of the expansive Studio 9 here at the TSN Studios. You saw right there. It's a futuristic campus. Ladies and gentlemen, the Kawhi Leonard trade has been completed and he will be playing with Toronto Raptors this season. Here's Javon Shepard, our NBA analyst to talk about. First of all, how was your summer Javon Shepard? It has been great. I've been out golfing a little bit. I'm not great, but I'm just hitting it. As long as I hit the ball, we're good. Better than we finally got this trade done. Well, and you and I were talking off camera. The one thing that we were both asked about this summer. The most was will this Kawhi Leonard trade actually happen and it finally gets done. Were you surprised that actually got completed? We knew Steve Ballmer paid the fine, accepted the penalty. We just weren't a hundred percent sure whether that trade is going to go through and now it's done. Yeah, it was a surprise that it went through. I think if you're the Toronto Raptors, you have some inclination of what may have been coming your way. But I also think this is a colossal move by Vice President Bobby Webster to not hit the panic button and see this trade all the way through, right? Because when everything starts to unravel and come out, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I think we were all scared, right? But more importantly, there's a number of teams across the NBA that were probably hoping that this trade didn't happen, right? Because now when you have Scottie and you have Kawhi together, you're not, they were more concerned for the fact that, hey, we've got to figure out how in the world that we are going to attack these two, right? Unless you have a legitimate five man, you're going to have a warm time playing the Toronto Raptors because of their defensive ability and prowess. So, you know, at first you've got to commend just the front office for just seeing this thing through. But now the real work starts in, you know, the last three years we've used this word patience a lot because it was a young team and trying to figure out a ton of things. You can't use that anymore, right? Kawhi Leonard is 35 years old. You know, Scottie Barnes is proven. We've seen what he's done, you know, in this past playoffs. Two-time All-Star and you have two guys now that are in the All-NBA conversation. For sure. Going to be seasoned year over year. So now it's time to really buckle down and their legitimate contender come out. Well, and let's look at this projected roster because you said at Kawhi, 35 years old, but it should be mentioned. He had a terrific year last year. The other thing to mention about Kawhi, his contract is up at the end of this season. So in a weird way, it's like a trial to see if they might extend them. Maybe they extend them sooner than that. How do you like the look of this roster going in next season, especially with the emergence of Colin Murray? Well, I think I look at this roster right now and I'm saying, you know, we've talked so much about how Kawhi can help this roster and make them a championship contender and so forth or coming out of Eastern Conference, but I look at this and I say for Scottie Barnes, he's going to make it a lot easier on Kawhi Leonard and Kawhi's got to be excited to play, you know, with Scottie Barnes. A guy like Emmanuel quickly, right? His role is responsibility lessons. Now, all he has to do is run the floor and make shots. RJ Barrett, who was proven in the playoffs, one of the best biggest and best competitors, you know, I think when you have RJ, when you have Scottie, when you have Kawhi on the floor, there's a ton of competitive juice. There's a ton of competitive fabric there. And you look at what Scottie done in the playoffs against Cleveland and I had a chance to see him this offseason and we're talking about offseason where he's playing five on five and he's getting them 94 feet. He's putting his forehead in the chest, you know, of his opponent in front of him. And this is the offseason. So if you're Kawhi Leonard and you're looking at, you know, these guys ability, you got to be excited about that too because it's also a bunch of guys in that locker room who have something to prove as well. And now Kawhi is that element there that has done it, right? He's been at the top of the mountain. I think the best way to achieve success is to see somebody that can, you can model it after and you can emulate, right? You can imitate and that's going to be Kawhi Leonard for this team, a finisher, not just on the offensive side, but a finisher on the defensive side of the floor as well. When you think about the Eastern Conference, it is loaded. You've got the defending champion Knicks. You've got LeBron joining the Sixers. The Cavaliers essentially brought everyone back including Harden. You've got Giannis to Miami. You've got Boston. You've got Detroit. Where do the Raptors slot in in your opinion? Top three, top three in the Eastern Conference, I think and I mentioned it to you before, unless you have a legitimate dominant big man in this league, I think the Toronto Raptors will have some sort of advantage with Kawhi, with Scottie on the floor. So yes, in the Eastern Conference, you know, Philly, it's going to be fun, right? Embiid, LeBron, Jalen Brunson, it's going to be fun. New York Knicks, Kat, Jalen Brunson, defending champion, great. But outside of that, it gets a little quiet in the Eastern Conference because I think they have the personnel to defend anybody in the league and with that, you know, I know there's going to be a lot of conversation about scoring the basketball and shooting, but if they can just get stopped, rebound the basketball and run the floor, you're not playing half-court defense anymore. You're playing defense and you're getting into transition, right? So for them, I'm excited about, you know, this iteration of this team because, you know, one through five, you're going to be able to defend. And they got to stay healthy. That's the caveat right there. So key. Raptors media day, just a couple of weeks away. We're getting going now, Jeevon. Thanks so much. Thank you.