As the news broke early on that July morning — snippets of information about a transformative trade that would shake the Raptors to their very foundation — the incredulity was rampant.

DeMar DeRozan — franchise icon and arguably the best player to ever wear a Raptors uniform, certainly the one most associated with the franchise for his “I Am Toronto” and “Don’t Worry, I Got Us” pronouncements — was gone.

He’d be replaced by Kawhi Leonard, an enigma that few knew anything about, someone who had barely played for an entire season. No question an elite talent at one time, but a question mark.

DeMar DeRozan. Kawhi Leonard. There had never been a more earth-shattering trade in Raptors history.

Further down in reports on the deal, it was mentioned that: “The Raptors also obtained veteran shooting guard Danny Green and shipped out young centre Jakob Poeltl and a protected first-round draft pick in the transaction.”

Green and Poeltl weren’t players to be named later, because they were named, but they weren’t much more than that in the minds of many fans, very much ancillary pieces to the jarring DeRozan-Leonard swap.

Funny how things turned out.

Green has gone from the “other guy” in the trade to one of the most valuable players on this year’s version of the Raptors — enjoying one of the top three-point shooting seasons in franchise history, a pesky and solid defender, a stabilizing influence, a “glue guy” in the vernacular.

“He’s been pretty good, right?” coach Nick Nurse said recently.

Yeah, good would be the word.

Green goes into the final game of the regular season, Tuesday in Minnesota, having put up historically good numbers. He’s shooting 45.6 per cent from three-point range, the best ever by a Raptor in a single season and the best of his career. He’s made 197 threes, a personal high in 10 NBA seasons; only Kyle Lowry (three times) has made more than that for the Raptors.

The 31-year-old Green has also been more durable than any of his teammates, playing in 79 of Toronto’s 81 games and logging more total minutes than he has in any other season. On a Toronto team that’s been dogged by injuries to almost every significant player, Green and Pascal Siakam have been the epitome of durability. It got to the point where Nurse tried to cut back on Green’s minutes the last two or three weeks — not with nights off, but with shorter runs in games.

“I’m trying to manage that a little bit,” Nurse said of Green’s workload. “He really wants to play. There’s no part of him that says, ‘Hey, give me a few games off, completely off’ so he wants to play. That puts it back on me to manage it a little bit more, which is fine, and I’ve tried to do it.

“But yeah, he’s logged a lot of minutes, played a lot of games, and we’re trying to take good care of him here going into the playoffs.”

Green’s a low-maintenance guy and isn’t going to get too worked up about minutes or responsibilities. He plays when he’s asked to, fills his role as well as any Raptor ever has and doesn’t complain. If it means playing 20 minutes a night for a couple of weeks instead of 30, or watching Fred VanVleet finish games in his position, he’s going to watch intently and do what’s needed when he’s called upon.

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“I trust whatever they have in mind or whatever they’re doing, the whole process of everything,” he said. “Got to understand what they’re looking to do and what they’re trying to achieve going into the playoffs.

“Obviously they want to continue to keep guys in rhythm and keep them feeling good, so I think that’s the reason why instead of completely sitting guys out, they’re giving them some minutes here and there. But I think it’s good to see some of the second-unit guys and the younger guys get some minutes over these last few games.”

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