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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO – Who is the best Toronto Raptors player ever?

It’s a complicated debate and has been for a while. As always, it depends what criteria you’re using.

Vince Carter had the biggest cultural impact. He helped grow the sport in the city of Toronto and throughout the country – which is easier to appreciate 15 years later – and he put the franchise on the map. You never forget your first love, and even after a painful breakup Carter still holds a special place in the heart of many Raptors fans.

If you’re into longevity, body of work and loyalty to the cause, DeMar DeRozan checks off those boxes better than anybody that’s ever put on the jersey.

Although he doesn’t get enough love in this conversation, nobody has had a greater impact on winning than Kyle Lowry.

Then there’s Kawhi Leonard. While he hasn’t even played a full season’s worth of games in Toronto, the superstar forward is making a strong case for himself this spring. The argument here would be quality over quantity.

In just six weeks, Leonard has had some of the biggest games and produced many of the most iconic moments in the 24-year history of the franchise, ultimately taking them further than they’ve ever gone before: the NBA Finals.

The buzzer beating shot in Game 7 against Philadelphia, which sent them to the Conference Finals. The 52-minute, double overtime masterpiece on one leg to save their season and give them new life. The dunk over Giannis Antetokounmpo to put an exclamation point on the clincher over Milwaukee. Make a list of the top on-court moments in team history and you’d be hard-pressed to find five that rival those three, among other highlights from his historic postseason run.

In 18 playoff games with the Raptors, Leonard is averaging 31.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 steals on 51 per cent shooting from the field and 39 per cent from three-point range. Only one player has put up those numbers in the postseason over the last 40 years: LeBron James in 2016-17.

Leonard has scored at least 30 points in 11 games during the playoffs. The only players in NBA history to have more such games prior to the Finals are Michael Jordan (13 in 1989 and 12 in 1990) and Hakeem Olajuwon (12 in 1995).

Defensively, he’s been every bit as dominant, neutralizing Sixers star Jimmy Butler when he took on the role of his primary defender in Game 7 and limiting Antetokounmpo, the MVP frontrunner, from Game 3 on.

The bigger the moment, the better he was.

“Kawhi is like – I don’t know how many more good things I can say about him – he’s just so good,” his head coach Nick Nurse said following Saturday’s series-clinching win over Milwaukee. “And again, I’m seeing a level of competitive greatness out of him. It’s just his willing us to win and him grabbing those rebounds and willing those shots in, it almost seems like, and going down and locking somebody up and taking the ball from them. It’s great competitive desire.”

“He’s been there before,” said long-time teammate Danny Green, who came to Toronto with Leonard in the trade from San Antonio last July. “He’s very comfortable in those situations, obviously. When the lights get brighter his game rises. He knows how important it is. He makes the big plays, whether he’s making shots or getting rebounds.”

Recently, Leonard was named All-NBA Second Team and became the first Raptors player to make NBA All-Defence after playing only 60 games during the regular season. Most of the 22 contests he missed were for rest, or “load management,” and in March he famously told reporters that regular season games are like practices for him.

As good as he was in those 48-minute, televised practices, there was always a sense that he had another level he was saving for the playoffs. Now we’re seeing what that next gear looks like, and it’s scary.

Leonard’s will to win rivals some of the greatest that have ever played the game and is like nothing Raptors fans have seen up close, with the exception of James – an opponent. Nobody in franchise history has had a higher peak.

Of Toronto’s top-18 all-time individual playoff performances by game score, according to basketball-reference, eight of them belong to Leonard. That doesn’t even include Game 7 against Philadelphia – ranked 26th – which ended with him hitting the biggest shot in franchise history, because he shot an uncommonly inefficient 16-for-39.

Although Carter owns the top spot – his 50-point gem against the 76ers in 2001 – he’s only responsible for two of those top-18 games. DeRozan and Lowry each have three games on that list, while Chris Bosh and Pascal Siakam have one apiece.

For at least three years in the late ’90s and early 2000s Carter was must-see TV. He might have been the brightest young star in the NBA, and although he was trending towards becoming one of the league’s best players he never quite reached that level, at least not in Toronto.

Carter never finished higher than 10th in MVP voting, trumped by the likes of Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Grant Hill, Gary Payton and Karl Malone, among others. DeRozan finished eighth in MVP voting last season.

Even after missing a quarter of the season, Leonard should crack the top-5 this year and could have conceivably pushed Antetokounmpo and James Harden for the award if that had been a priority.

Healthy and at his best, Leonard is the best two-way player in the league, and that distinction – which he’s possessed for some time – might not even do him justice anymore. Based on his play this postseason some have made the argument that he’s currently the best player in basketball. There’s a case to be made.

Of course, if he is the best Raptor ever, the question becomes: what if he’s not a Raptor much longer? Leonard will hit free agency in just over a month and speculating where he might end up seems like wasted energy. The truth is, nobody knows. Leonard and his camp may not even know.

If he re-signs with Toronto, his legacy will grow even bigger the moment the pen touches paper. If he leaves, none of this changes.

Shortly after the trade went public last summer, it was reported that Leonard had no interest in playing for the Raptors. He not only showed up, but also handled himself like a professional throughout the season and more than honoured his contract.

With a big payday at stake – nearly $200 million – Leonard could have simply gone through the motions this year. He could have put on the jersey, played limited minutes in a bunch of games and taken it easy out there to mitigate the risk of jeopardizing his future – not unlike Anthony Davis in New Orleans. He’ll get paid either way. He has nothing more to prove.

Instead, he’s emptying the tank, playing through a knee injury of undisclosed severity, and is giving a team that he may or may not have a long-term future with everything he’s got.

“He’s the best player in the league,” team president Masai Ujiri announced to the sell-out crowd during the on-court celebration after winning the Eastern Conference on Saturday. “And we’re happy he’s in Toronto.”

“I don’t really judge my game like that,” said Leonard, asked if he is in fact the best player in the league. “I’m more of a team [guy], see what my team is doing. I just want to win. I don’t care about being the best player. I want to be the best team. I’ve always said that. Just before the season when we made the trade, Masai felt that way about me. He told me how he felt and why he made the trade. It’s turning out well now. We’re in the Finals, and we’re not done yet.”

Whatever happens from here, whether he stays or he goes, Leonard’s Raptors legacy will live on.​