Kawhi Leonard Rumors: Raptors Didn't Think Star 'Was Truly Serious' About Return
Kawhi Leonard has made his decision, and details about his decision-making process continue to surface.
Saturday afternoon, the Toronto Star's Bruce Arthur wrote about Leonard's exit from the Toronto Raptors. In his piece, Arthur outlined a bit about when the Raptors might have known that the NBA Finals MVP was not returning to the team he led to its first championship.
According to Arthur, "for the last two or three days, sources say the Raptors did not believe Kawhi was truly serious about returning to Toronto" (h/t ESPN's Ramona Shelburne).
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news overnight that Leonard had chosen to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Reportedly, the crucial piece that lured Leonard to the Clippers was the organization's ability to pull off a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder to acquire Paul George.
According to Wojnarowski, L.A. sent the Thunder four unprotected first-round picks, one first-round pick and two pick swaps as well as Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in exchange for George.
"Kawhi Leonard has been recruiting Paul George to find a way to get to the Clippers and LA pulled it off tonight: George goes to the Clippers with Leonard, and together they walk into Staples Center to go head-to-head with LeBron James and Anthony Davis," Wojnarowski added.
Kawhi Watch has been intense since free agency officially opened Sunday, and the notoriously quiet star managed to keep his plans completely under wraps until Saturday.
However, the widespread belief was that the 28-year-old's three finalists were the Clippers, Raptors and Los Angeles Lakers. As it turns out, his final destination hinged on a desire to team up with fellow L.A.-area native George.
Shelburne penned a deep-dive detailing Leonard's recruitment of George, which also disclosed Leonard was also trying to convince Kevin Durant to join him on the Clippers. While Durant was "flattered," he decided to join Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn.
Leonard had better luck with George, who reportedly approached Thunder general manager Sam Presti to request a trade.
An excerpt from Shelburne:
"After the Clippers met with Leonard for approximately three hours at head coach Doc Rivers' house in Malibu on Monday night, both sides went to work to make that happen. At the same time he was meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors this week, Leonard was meeting, calling and texting with George, trying to convince him to find a way out of Oklahoma City.
"... Leonard's camp was essentially trying to buy time, asking the Lakers as late as 9 p.m. PT on Friday night to delay the consummation of the Anthony Davis trade until 'as late as Sunday,' according to sources close to the situation. No reason was given for that delay by Leonard's camp, except that they should do it if they still wanted Leonard to consider them."
In the end, the Lakers missed out on Leonard but netted free agents DeMarcus Cousins and Danny Green, who won it all with Leonard in Toronto this year and San Antonio in 2014, to set up a heavyweight rivalry in L.A.
While Toronto has every right to be upset to lose a player of Leonard's caliber, the one season the Raptors did have him couldn't have gone any better. The three-time All-Star was at the center of several historic moments, such as the first buzzer-beater in Game 7 history to oust the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Finals—not to mention effectively ending the Golden State Warriors' dynasty.
Now Leonard will try to bring a championship to his hometown for a franchise that, like the Raptors, hasn't managed to earn a title without him.
Reported free-agency deals via NBA.com's tracker unless otherwise noted.
