SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Spurs announced on Wednesday morning that they have acquired DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first round pick from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the 2019 first round pick is top-20 protected and will turn into two second round selections in 2020 if not conveyed next summer.
The end of the Kawhi Leonard saga brings in the 28-year-old DeRozan who is a 4-time NBA All-Star and a 2-time gold medalist with Team USA in the 2014 World Championship and 2016 Rio Olympics.
Also in the deal is the 22-year-old Poeltl who was drafted ninth overall in the 2016 NBA Draft out of Utah.
DeRozan appeared in 80 games for the Raptors last season, starting in all 80. He averaged 23.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 33.9 minutes per game last season.
Meanwhile, Poeltl played in all 82 games for Toronto averaging 6.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game off the bench.
With the trade becoming official, this will allow the Spurs to finalize the signings of Marco Belinelli, Dante Cunningham and the re-signing of Bryn Forbes, without going into the luxury tax or impacting their salary cap situation.
Project Spurs will have more insight and analysis of the trade coming shortly.
