Kawhi Leonard's lone season in Toronto saw him at the peak of his postseason powers | Why They Won 

The team that made Joel Embiid and Philly fans cry.

Marc Gasol deserves more of a mention. An incredibly underrated part of the championship team. The Raptors don't win without the Kawhi trade, but they also don't win if they didn't pick up Gasol at the trade deadline.

That 2019 Raptor's team was different, completely well rounded top to bottom with insane chemistry. Kawhi should have never left Toronto.

this was easily the best time of my life. been a Raptors fan my whole life and i would relive this moment a million times if i had to

One of the most underrated teams assembled all time imo. Even before Golden State they essentially went through 2 finals series before they even got to the finals fr. All time team an run.

As a Canadian and raps fan, it was a awesome year. Knew Kawhi wasn’t gonna stay but seeing how things have unfolded for him in LA, feel like he would’ve found continued success if he stayed

Worth mentioning that in every series different players stepped up. Fred was garbage versus the Sixers but was crucial to beating the Bucks. It was truly the perfect storm of personnel, in game tactical adjustments, and just overall timing of everything that happened in the background in the NBA that year. One of the best defensive championship teams IMO.

Kawhi/Siakam was a deadly duo

man I miss these Raptors - this is one of the best "could have been Dynasty" questions out there

Incredible run. Thank you for the summary Kirk. The Raptors were nearly two-deep at each position. Everyone in the rotation (9 men) can shoot and defend. They had 3 playmakers on the court at all times. This was a deep, deep team led by an innovative coach. The GSW team had Klay until the last quarter of game 6 and got their butts kicked. It should've been a gentleman's sweep. Kyle, FVV Green, Norm Kawhi, OG Pascal Gasol, Serge Legendary team.

looking back, this team was insanely stacked

Everyone talking about how Jimmy Butler had a historical run in these recent playoffs. Kawhi had THE greatest single playoff run in 2019 in the history of the NBA

This is one of my favourite 2k teams of all time. Deepest 10 man rotation I’ve ever seen

Man this run gave me chills. They were special

The further away from this we get the more we will learn to appreciate how special, well timed and perfectly constructed this team was. Legendary 🏆

2019 is a year I will Never forget as a Raptors fan. The road to the championship win was tough but that 2019 squad was amazing. All the players wanted it, the coach and staffs wanted it, the organization wanted it and the fans wanted it too. They players gave everything from starters to players coming from the bench. They all deserve it and the fans too. I’m so proud of this Franchise. 🏆🦖🇨🇦

the story of toronto had more to do with the amazing run to the finals than frankly the series itself. it was a legendary run

The 2019 raptors are one of the most underrated championship teams of all time. They deserve to be up there with some of the best teams. Their chemistry was insane.

A shame the Team didn't stay together for one more season But great memories from the championship season. I love that no look steal by Kawhi at 0:48

The highlights from this playoff run never get old❤❤. So proud of that team.

correction: it was kawhi who told nurse that he is going to take giannis... after being down 0-2 and frustration brewing, kawhi had enough and took matters into his own hands. no credit should be given to nurse in this decision.

My lowkey favorite moment of this season was when the Raptors beat the Celtics with the double block from the two Spur players (Green + Leonard). It was a wakeup call to everyone that this season was going to be DIFFERENT.

Before the injury’s kawhi was like top 5 in the league spurs was blowing out the warriors with KD before zaza stepped under him on that shot

The 2019 raptors was a stacked team,even the bench was amazing

Siakam really deserves so much more credit the man hooped day in and day out with kawhi. Their duo was insane

A few things about the 2019 Raptors that makes you wonder what may have been had they'd stay together: 1. The starting lineup only played about 20-25 games together in the regular season. You could see as the playoffs went on, that group was gelling as Kawhi gained more and more trust in his supporting cast. Another year together would have advanced that chemistry even more. 2. OG missed pretty much the entire playoffs that year. Adding a healthy and maturing OG to the group the following year would have been a huge addition.

I still get chills when I watch that game buzzer beater, me and my homie were watching live and we both jumped out of our seats at the same time 😂

Now that I think about it, Pascal and Kawhi was sick duo. That man’s Kawhi do well when he has great PG and PF. Everything else falls in place.

Kirk is killing it with this kind of content. I absolutely love it. This is real reporting instead of the constant debate shows on ESPN.

People don't respect this team, before Kawhi they had a deep roster. This team was top 3 in the East before him. Lebron left the East because he saw what was coming with Milwaukee, Philly, Toronto and Boston. Kawhi just put them over the hump, but Lowry, VanFleet, Siakim Gasol and Ibaka were beasts. This was a Great team.

Bruh, ESPN forgot to mention the most important reason of all: Just having THE 3-peat Lucky Charm Patrick McCaw sealed the deal & the historic Championship!!! 🏆 Also the midseason trades for GasoLin: Fortune Cookie Linsanity Jeremy Lin gave time for Fred VanVleet to heal in his injuries before the playoffs And big time addition of Marc Gasol to stop Embiid & Lopez in the playoffs

I'm still sour Kawhi left. The season went just about as perfect as it can for Kawhi to consider staying. Load management he required, fan support, winning and max salary were all his, I wonder if he regretted not staying given his situation now.

Thank you so much for this video. Had tears of joy watching this. You had to be there. What a time.

Every player was essential to the championship, idk how many of you watched Serge Ibakas how hungry are you videos but there are one or two videos of the whole squad just vibing and eating together and you could feel that energy the whole year.

They go back to back if Kawhi stays

My Graduation Day and Raptors Game 6 🏆. Best day of my life 🇨🇦

Raptors would have easily went back to back if Kawhi stayed and maybe even a three peat

Man I missed this RAPTORS team they were a UNDERRATED squad every since KAWHI LEONARD left the RAPTORS haven’t been the same since then

Respect to ESPN for the post 🔥

This was awesome! It was such a great time for Toronto and happy to say we had the best of Kawhi ❤

I remember where I was for every series! History. Game 7 vs Philly & the last 4 games in Bucks series was legendary.

Loved every game, it was incredible watching Kawhi out there. He was unstoppable.

The roster on that Raptors team is unmatched. Literally entire starting lineup is full of all stars

I'm really enjoying this new series. Keep it up

DeMar upon seeing that thumbnail with Lowry craddling the trophy: "That should have been me, ME!" 😂

They were very fortunate with injuries, especially considering they had the most injured superstar this era

Best year evrrr! Waited 24+ years for an nba team / championship was never a fan of hockey here in Toronto it was always ball. Hope to see this team grab another one 👌🏽

Thank you ESPN, this was amazing

Toronto had crazy depth they just didn't rely on 2 or 3 superstar players. That whole team stepped up and played hard

Oh. My. Goodness. Oh this video I was waiting for. Bring back the memories!

Some credit needs to be given to that team defence. If you actually watched those games (not just the highlights or looking at the stats) you would have seen some of the best defence ever played. I loved the way that it was poetic that in the last moments to clinch the championship it was won with their defence. What an amazing team. Kawhi should have at the very least ran it back one more year then go to the Clippers to never be seen in the finals again….lol

Raptors were roasting the Warriors all series even with Klay playing. Klay not getting hurt would not have factored AT ALL! Sure, Durant had one good quarter coming back in the playoffs. But, the Raps swept the Warriors w/Durant playing during the season and Kawhi was even out a game.

Everyone at my high school was rocking the bandage under their eye in support of FVV and the Raptors. Legendary time to be from Toronto

Kawhi did not lockup Giannis or take the job of defending Giannis upon himself, therby changing the complexion of the series. That story is not borne out by the actual games. The Raptors built their entire team defense around stopping Giannis, and anyone who actually watched the series knows that. The narrative around the Raptors championship is crazy. It's a real litmus test to tell if someone is a casual fan or not. Because definitely Kawhi hit the big shots, got the superstar calls necessary to compete, and won some big games for them by taking over the scoring, but it was not the carry job people were pretending at the time / still pretend to this day. The entire Raptors second unit were or went on to become high level NBA starters. The team was stacked beyond belief.

You can't talk about LeBronto without mentioning LeBron. The reason why Demar got traded and the coach of the year was fired was because LeBron swept the first seed Raptors basically by himself. Seizing the opportunity when LeBron finally left the conference, the Raptors managed to hoist the 2019 NBA finals trophy.

2019 raptors was the deepest finals team in recent memory

That Raptors team was a beast, great title run and a historic team.

Parade was epic🎉 will never forget it.

Even the depth acquired at the trade deadline came through. Marc Gasol doesn't get talked about enough, and people forget Jeremy Lin was brought aboard because of injuries to multiple point guards in the regular season, and he quietly helped us win those games to solidify a higher seed in the playoffs.

Kawhi should’ve signed a 1and1 with Toronto after that chip. He would’ve made it to another conference finals and likely another finals. And you know that’s exactly what he was thinking in 2020 at the end of game 7 in the bubble when he was sitting on the bench with that pissed off look on his face.

One thing that people forget is that prior to the Covid shut down, the Raptors had the second or third best record in the league. In essence what killed the Raptors championship aspirations was the pandemic. After the bubble the team began to change into what it has become now.

Have to thank the 2019 raptors for the best Finals game possible, Game 5 vs GSW. Toronto poured out of ACC, I stood next to the trees by the CN Tower, watching the big screens. 1 min left in play, and leading by six, we started to celebrate. When we lost, and went back to the Oracle, we took our revenge for the decisive W. Thanks for the memories.

This new series is fire!!

Best summer ive ever had in Toronto! This team was stacked. I always get goosebumps coming back to this season & run. Downtown was crazy that night we won.

Forever thankful for kawhi during this championship run......never thought I would see the day the raptors would secure a championship 💯💯💯💯

This was great! Well done guys 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

One of the greatest moment🎉❤

One of the best runs ever by an underdog team

that game 6 will make me always appreciate FVV no matter how much he annoyed me last season, glad he got his bag 🙏🏽

thanks a lot for this ! brings back to happier time even if just for 11:04 :)

Thanks for making this - raptors fan

Kawhi really left this to join the dysfunctional Clippers team

FACT: That was not Nick Nurses idea to put Kawhi on Giannis. That was Kawhi's idea lol.

thank you for this.

Warriors fans mention KD and Klay injured but don’t want to talk about 2015 & 2017

It's the defensive depth, rather than the offensive depth, that was the most impressive part of that team. Kawhi and Marc were former DPOY, Serge was all defense, OG eventually got an all defense nod. Most of the other guys were highly respected, as well: Danny Green, Kyle Lowry, Pascal, Norm, Fred, Chris Boucher. The offense was pretty good, but not all that much better than the DeMar+Kyle led teams.

For a Raptors fan like myself, that season was just magic. As soon as they made the trade announcement, I thought to myself, they have a real shot at winning it all this year. As the video stated, Lebron was now in the Western conference, and while the Bucks and 76ers had their All-Star lineups, this 2018-19 Raptors bench had depth too. Leonard landed on his feet with a roster that molded around him, Danny Green filled the gaping hole on defense left by the injured OG Anunoby, and the mid-season addition of Marc Gasol provided them with a rim defender and rebounder when Ibaka needed to sit out. They had the right balance of youth and veteran players, and they had a defensive-minded coach, and a front office that went aggressively after that title. It paid off in the end, even though it was against a decimated Warriors starting 5. But, by that point in the season, Lowry had his shooting hand bandaged for a sprained thumb, and Kawhi was hobbling up and down the court on sore knees. You play the best guys you have available, and it's unfortunate that KD and Klay went down the way they did in that series. They rushed Durant back too soon and cost him a full season for recovery. The one regret is that the Toronto front office didn't try to woo another star player to occupy the vacancy when Kawhi walked. After that, Danny Green left, Gasol too, and because Ibaka had a tantrum over sharing minutes with another center, he moved on as well. I had hoped they would attract Jimmy Butler up north, given his free agency that same off-season, and the relationship he has with Kyle Lowry. He would have been a perfect fit for that roster, and it's a shame that we never got to see that. Gasol was already one foot out the door after the trophy parade in Toronto, but they should have played to Ibaka's ego and offered him a contract extension too. Their time at the peak was brief, and it's led them to a familiar place in the lottery and the mind-numbing limbo of the 9-12 spots of the Eastern Conference. For a team that reliably earned playoff contention for 7 seasons in a row, it sucks to see them fall down the ranks again. But it's also why the Championship run that year was so inspiring to witness. They needed to have so many things go their way, and with a lot of talent and some luck in key moments, they brought home the biggest win for the franchise, the city, and Canada.

I think it's disrespectful to talk about the Warriors' injuries. Toronto was there and no matter who was on the court, they were going to win.

can’t believe espn had segment Raptors! about time!

legendary defense was played by the whole team. we dont' win without Kawhi, but he doesn't win without us

kawhi is going to be remembered as one of the greatest. considering how much he has been plagued by injury, his resume is nuts. a 100% healthy kawhi probably has a top 5/ goat level career.

the beat at 1:21 once casey start talking is crazyyyyy

only championship team in nba history to win a chip with 8 undrafted players and zero lottery picks!!!

Proud of this content as a Canadian

No lie Kewiah put all them boys on after taking them to the championship know they all got big paid contracts give kewhia his flowers he’s in the top 20 of all time

This is definitely one of the classic NBA finals runs

great video do the 2011 Mavs next

We didn’t have cj miles at the same time as gasol he was part of the trade but pretty accurate

Idk why so many people coming out here with this hate giving no credits like oh KD and Klay was injured. Klay was playing till injured in game 6 and Raptors were up still. Injures part of the game. Warrior amazing team but all their players had so much mileage is it a surprise? SOoo speaking of injuries would warriors have that many chips if Cleveland was healthy in 2015 when Kyrie went down? And that was just 4 years before Raptors won there's. Since we pointing fingers just wanted to point that out too.

Leonard & Siakim: 2nd highest scoring duo in playoff history. Lowry, Leonard & Siakim: Highest scoring trio in playoff history. Insanely deep bench, great chemistry. This team was just firing on all cylinders that year. FVV even said he believes if Kawhi stayed, they would have gotten back-to-back chips. Looking at the Eastern conference that year, it’s hard to argue.

one of the best years of my life

I loved this team and this story.

Kawhi - Siakam - Lowry - Gasol - Ibaka - VanVleet - Green - Powell Like the banner shows, these guys are forever legends in the city, this team had it all. Very hard to point out a weakness. Wild only 1 is left in Siakam.

As a New Yorker, I cant wait til the day we win a championship 🥺

The sportsnet playoff hype videos were legendary

this a great video, hope u make more like it ESPN!

Kawhis career would of catapulted had he stayed on the raptors

I’d honestly take him back if the Clippers wanna send him back

I’m glad this video didn’t disrespect Vanvleet and gave him the recognition he deserves 9:30

if he stayed he would’ve been on lebrons level of superstardom… man had all of Canada at his fingertips like so much legacy to be built but he left it all behind to go home which is respectable but hard to imagine what could’ve been