Eh, that's not really justifiable. The packages were . The best path forward I can think of would have been Harris and 13 for Leonard then flipping Harris for the same package Philly gave LAC for him. I'm not sure that there's any piece there that is a bona fide core piece. Sure, there are fantasy scenarios like Harris, Beverly, 12 and 13 for Leonard and Mills that could have set the team up for a quick turnaround. In that same vein, we talked about deals similar to the NOP package but without the picks and them rerouting some of that LAL junk for a decent haul. But the reports suggest that everyone held back. I can totally understand why PATFO read DeRozan, Poeltl and a pick as being the best deal at the time.
Whether they should have even made the trade is a different matter. Maybe they should have played hardball with the league and kept Kawhi until someone upped their offer. Maybe they should have done whatever it took to keep Leonard, including firing staff and moving on from players. Maybe they should have just decided to run it back anyway, made the rumored trade for that third star and made a serious run at a sixth le before risking Kawhi walking. Without being in the locker room, I think there are good arguments for all of those ideas. But I think that's different than saying the Spurs chose the wrong trade out of the ones offered.