365 days ago, the Toronto Raptors were fresh off another disappointing season. 59 wins - second best in the NBA - and having who would turn out to be the league's coach of the year was not enough to unseat LeBron James from his throne as king of the NBA's Eastern Conference.
Then, on July 18, 2018, Raptor President Masai Ujiri shook the NBA landscape. With James out of the East - having signed with the Los Angeles Lakers - Ujiri knew that the conference would be more competitive. And he knew that the Raptors needed changes.
So, on that day, he traded fan favorite Demar Derozan, in some people's opinions the greatest player in franchise history at that point, to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard. Leonard, coming off a season in which he played in just 9 games and had reached a permanent discord with the Spurs organization over the handling of his quadriceps injury, was one of the best players in the game. He was also, though, an unknown coming into the 2018-2019 season. Was he fully healed from his injury? Would he want to play in Toronto? That was the question that Raptor fans wondered about, and it is why there were many people opposed to the deal. "Why trade a guy who wanted to be here for a guy that may not even want to suit up?....Who knows if this guy will be recovered from his injury?"
Well, management of his quadriceps all season by head coach Nick Nurse and Raptor Director of Sport Science Alex McKechnie took care of the injury concern, and despite reports - factual or not - that he did not want to leave his hotel room during the 2016 All-Star weekend in Toronto, Leonard played out the season. He averaged 26.6 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 60 regular season games, 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.7 steals in the 2019 playoffs, and on June 13 hoisted the Larry O'Brien Trophy. It was his second championship, his second finals MVP, and the first ever championship in Toronto Raptor history and the first title in the city since 1993.
Following the locker room champagne showers, and the pure ecstasy that was the championship parade, only one thing was on the minds of Raptors fans and the team.
What will Kawhi do?
Since last June, when he made it known he wanted out of San Antonio, all we knew and heard was that he wanted to go to Los Angeles. Which LA team, we didn't know. But we knew that's where he wanted to be.
Fast forward, and in the early morning hours of Saturday, July 6, just before midnight if you were on the west coast, Leonard announced his long awaited decision that had the rest of the league on hold.
He was going to the Los Angeles Clippers. A long term deal, at 4 years and $142 million.
Raptors fans can take it any way they want, but the reaction should not be anger, hostility, or negative feelings towards a guy that did not want to be in Toronto in the first place. He went to the city and elevated an entire country, providing it with something it had never before experienced. He was business-like all year. There was no drama, and no worry about what speed his motor would be set at on a particular night. He was never on cruise control, always full throttle. Seek and destroy.
His move to Los Angeles was widely expected. After all, it is home and it is where he wanted to be. Raptor fans should feel no ill will towards a guy for wanting to do that. He never wanted to be in Toronto in the first place, but he did his job like a true professional, and delivered the city the highest possible reward.
So, forever savor the moments. The game-clinching contested three pointer over Joel Embiid in Game 4 of the East semi finals, the miraculous corner three that won the Raptors Game 7 of that series, and the thunderous left handed jam on Giannis Antetokounmpo in Game 6 of the Eastern Finals. Put the 84 games that Leonard played with the Raptors, and the 347 days that he was a Raptor, in your memory banks.
Don't criticize his decision. Respect it, and say thank you.
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