Think about it, for that to have worked the Raptors would have needed to trade a package similar to the Clippers for PG alone--so we are talking multiple firsts and Siakam and a roster player--and then another big-ticket roster player and medium-ticket roster player (salary match) for Russ *and* more futures.

Basically it would have been their three expiring deals (Lowry, Gasol, Ibaka) plus Siakam (potentially some other filler contracts one way or the other) and many, many draft picks, more than five as that's what it took to get PG alone. They don't own picks from other orgs like the Clippers did.

It just seems inconceivable to me that even with Siakam in the deal they could have come up with enough for both stars. Woj is saying as much now on Twitter, that they were just included to drive up the LAC offer so that the Clippers weren't negotiating against themselves.

Also, let's not forget, Kawhi is a guy who is a SoCal guy and has had mutual interest with the Clips for a while. Last season aside, this is where he'd prefer to be.

Toronto can hardly complain though because they got a fucking TITLE out of this and knew they were positioned brilliantly for a rebuild if he left.