On paper, it makes no sense. Why would one of the youngest teams to make the playoffs last year move future assets to acquire an injury-prone, 35-year-old star — even if that player helped produce the greatest moment in franchise history? More than that, why would the team do that and then offer the player an expensive multi-year extension?As ever, the devil is in the details. Those details are what make the idea of the Toronto Raptors reacquiring Kawhi Leonard rational.The Los Angeles Clippers and Raptors have been engaged on the Leonard front for days now, with Toronto seen as the frontrunner, per league sources who were granted anonymity so they could speak freely on the talks. While Dallas is known to have pursued Leonard, as The Athletic first reported, the Raptors are on Leonard’s list of teams that he’s willing to sign an extension with (along with the San Antonio Spurs) and have a significant edge as a result. Last week, The Athletic reported that the interest is mutual. The Raptors are in a position to be interested in a lot of players.To understand why the Raptors are interested, we first must explore why the Clippers might move Leonard. With just one year and $50.3 million left on his contract, Leonard is obviously thinking about his next deal, as that is how the league works. The Clippers got much younger in February when they traded James Harden for Darius Garland.Why the Portland Trail Blazers traded for Ja MorantEsfandiar Baraheni and Jeshua KiddIt would be an understatement to say the Clippers and Leonard have gone through a lot of drama since he signed with the franchise in July 2019, leaving Toronto. Because of various injuries and related maintenance, Leonard has played in just 364 of the Clippers’ 604 regular-season and playoff games since he joined the team. He missed the entire 2021-22 season and failed to make it through the playoffs healthy in three of his five times getting that far with Los Angeles.There is also the Aspiration scandal. Clippers executive Lawrence Frank said earlier in the offseason that his goal was to win with Leonard. But after moving Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers in a trade that got them the fifth pick in this month’s draft, used on Keaton Wagler, it is reasonable for the Clippers to move in a younger direction.Then why should the Raptors, whose two most important players for the long-term will be 25 (Scottie Barnes) and 21 (Collin Murray-Boyles) when the season starts, be interested if the Clippers are waffling? Well, the Raptors’ cap picture isn’t exactly rosy. Brandon Ingram (two years, $81.9 million, including a player option for 2027-28), Immanuel Quickley (three years, $97.5 million and Jakob Poeltl (four years, $103.6 million, with just a $5 million guarantee for 2029-30) are on contracts ranging from neutral value to cap-sheet albatrosses. They have picks and prospects to dangle in a trade, but not team-friendly contracts for veterans. Those contracts are either going to make it impossible to enter bidding wars for more in-demand players or require them to surrender more draft capital than their competitors to make competitive offers.