August 21, 2026
Dan Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports
The Sixers are still trying to make up for what happened in this moment.
After acquiring Jaylen Brown and LeBron James in the same offseason, Sixers President of Basketball Operations Mike Gansey has set his new team up to be a full-blown championship contender.
The only problem: ahead of the 2026-27 season, the Eastern Conference is shaping up to be as competitive as ever.
Over the next two weeks, PhillyVoice will be examining the 10 teams in the Eastern Conference which pose the greatest threats to James, Brown, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe and the Sixers.
Up next: the Toronto Raptors, whose better-than-expected 2025-26 campaign was followed up by a trade for franchise icon Kawhi Leonard... or was it? The deal made by Toronto to acquire the Finals MVP of their lone championship is on hold due to the ongoing salary-cap circumvention investigation surrounding Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers.
What comes next for the Raptors? How high is their ceiling with Leonard back in the fold?
SCOUTING THE SIXERS' COMPETITION
Washington Wizards | Orlando Magic
Atlanta Hawks | Miami Heat | Toronto Raptors
Shortly after it became clear that the Clippers were willing to move Leonard, Toronto pounced, agreeing to send Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and significant draft compensation to Los Angeles. But before the deal could be officially announced, the league made it clear that if Leonard is penalized as a result of its ongoing investigation, the Raptors would have to incur the repercussions.
The expectation continues to be that the deal between Toronto and Los Angeles will get done before the season begins, but as of this writing, it remains merely a proposed trade, paralyzing both teams for the remainder of the offseason.
Assuming the Leonard trade is going to be executed eventually, this is how Toronto's offseason looks:
| Added | Lost |
| Kawhi Leonard | Brandon Ingram |
| Allen Graves | Gradey Dick |
| Kyle Anderson | Sandro Mamukelashvili |
If all Toronto does is swap Ingram for Leonard while replacing Dick with first-round pick Allen Graves and losing a strong bench big in Sandro Mamukelashvili, this should be a very good team next season. If the trade falls through, the Raptors will be decent at best, going from one of the potential powerhouses of the conference to a team which will be swallowed up by them.
SIXERS FILM STUDIES
Jaylen Brown's strengths | Jaylen Brown's weaknesses
Anfernee Simons | Dean Wade | Ariel Hukporti
Toronto entered the summer with excellent defensive personnel before drafting a defensive-oriented prospect in Graves. Even as he is asked to handle fewer high-profile defensive assignments, Leonard will be a massive upgrade over Ingram on that end of the floor – while also bringing a vastly superior offensive game to a team that could use another high-caliber scorer next to Scottie Barnes.
| PG | SG | SF | PF | C |
| Immanuel Quickley | RJ Barrett | Kawhi Leonard | Scottie Barnes | Jakob Poeltl |
| Jamal Shead | Ja'Kobe Walter | Allen Graves | Collin-Murray Boyles | Trayce Jackson-Davis |
| Alijah Martin | Jamison Battle | Kyle Anderson |
Like another team in its division, Toronto has a hole at backup center, but the Raptors' alternative options are strong. Barnes has played a ton of center in the past and Collin Murray-Boyles did an excellent job there as a rookie. Ultimately, this roster does seem a bit thin on surefire rotation players, but Graves popping early would not be a surprise at all.
The most fun this team can have: trotting out a lineup of Shead, Graves, Leonard, Barnes and Murray-Boyles – five absolutely brilliant defensive talents – and simply causing chaos.
MORE: Building lineups Sixers head coach Nick Nurse can lean on in 2026-27
None of Toronto's players have played in Philadelphia, but Leonard will always be inextricably tied to the Sixers due to his epic Game 7 buzzer-beater in the second round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs. More than seven years have come and gone since that moment, and so have an absurd number of iterations of the Sixers, with many different co-stars for Joel Embiid. Yet in all of that time, with all of those teams, the Sixers have never gotten as close to winning a championship as they were before Leonard's shot bounced on the rim four times.
SIXERS SIGN LEBRON JAMES
James' decision | Projecting Sixers' rotation | James' impact, on and off the court
