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The entire NBA knew that San Antonio was trading Leonard after one of the most mysterious personal seasons in history. He was getting moved with one year left on his contract. The question was, to where, and for what?

Webster and Wright began their conversations at the draft, but the original talks didn’t go very far. After July 1, when Leonard hadn’t been traded anywhere, the NBA went into rumour mode, which is its normal summer state.

The Boston Celtics were pushing hard for Leonard. They were offering mostly draft picks. The west coast teams, the Lakers and Clippers, were actively involved. The New York Knicks made a pitch. Other teams did, too.

Quietly, in the background, Webster began doing serious research. You don’t get many opportunities to get a game-changing player in the NBA. But this one came with more questions than usual.

What happened last season in San Antonio? What was going on around Leonard? How healthy was he? How willing would he be to play in Toronto?

Webster was keeping himself up at nights, worrying, over-thinking, wondering what exactly they knew about Leonard and, maybe more importantly, what they didn’t know.

“You don’t know when to stop,” Webster said. “You’re up at night. You ask yourself, ‘Did we look under every stone? Are we thinking about this in every way possible? That is the difficult part.

“This was a unique case because of a few of the unknowns. There was a little bit of the medical piece we were unsure about. Obviously, there was some uncertainty about the future, about some of Kawhi’s intentions. I don’t know if there was a moment when we said, ‘There’s a deal.’ Because sometimes you stop short. Sometimes you’re a couple of inches apart. I don’t know if there’s a moment where either side said ‘yes’ — it’s kind of an interesting process to work through.”