Kawhi Leonard To Raptors: Boston Celtics' Huge Offer Was Rejected By Spurs

Before Kawhi Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors, the San Antonio Spurs reportedly rejected a huge draft pick-heavy offer from the Boston Celtics.

The Spurs traded Leonard along with Danny Green last week in a package that saw them receive DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poltl and a protected 2019 first round draft pick.

In early June, it was reported that Leonard, who had one year remaining on his deal, wanted a trade away from San Antonio with a preference to move to his native Los Angeles.

It seemed a trade to the Lakers was inevitable, however, they were not content with the Spurs' steep demands, who were reportedly asking for the trio of young prospects, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart, as well as two first-round draft picks and the swapping of two more draft picks.

Instead, the Lakers seemingly decided to wait a year to sign him for free while further reports later claimed Leonard no longer had a preference to play for them as he did not want to play second fiddle to LeBron James.

This led to the Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers being the main favorites at the time to land the 28-year-old's signature.

According to ESPN's Zach Lowe, Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge offered a sizeable offer for Leonard that included some of the franchise's best draft picks.

However, the Spurs wanted players in return as well as they were not interested in entering a long rebuilding process.

"Rebuilding was just not going to be an option there," Lowe said on his podcast, as quoted on Celtics Life. "They want to remain 'relevant', I think is the word that has been used. They want to remain in the playoff race. They just weren't going to consider offers that were heavy on draft picks and young players."

"And by the way, as all the reporting from this sort of trickled in, I think the Celtics offered most of their best draft picks. I don't think the Celtics just offered (and said) 'You could have a bunch of our picks.' I think some of the picks they're owed, at least two of the picks, if not all of them that they own from other teams, including the Kings, Grizzlies and Clippers. I think those were all in the deal. And the Spurs were like 'Nah, we don't want that.'"

This goes along with what ESPN's NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier this month, stating both Boston and Philadelphia were not prepared to offer any of their top stars.

In the end, it was understandable as it was too risky for both franchises to offer players along with future draft picks for a player in Leonard who had just a year remaining on his deal before potentially becoming a free agent in 2019.

As for the Spurs, despite losing one of the best players in the league, they can be happy with the deal they received from the Raptors.