It took a while, but the reported Kawhi Leonard trade to the Toronto Raptors was finally pushed through earlier this month after the Los Angeles Clippers' investigation concluded. From the moment of his return up north, Leonard made it pretty clear there was a desire to go back to Toronto.
“I’m not really championship-chasing, trying to find the best team I could win. I didn’t want to put on a thousand jerseys. [Toronto] took a liking to my family, I took a liking to the city, really enjoyed it. My son was born here. He's been asking me forever when he's going to come back.”
Leonard added on Open Gym that his son is now able to see the great city of Toronto for himself, instead of listening to Kawhi just tell stories about it. All in all, the new Raptors superstar sounds incredibly pleased with where he ended up amid all the chaos that has followed him lately.
There is an alternate timeline in which Leonard may have become a member of the Golden State Warriors. Tim Kawakami reported previously that Los Angeles and Golden State were close to a deal. Who knows if his heart really would have been in Golden State had a trade actually gone through.
There is no use for the Warriors to regret Kawhi Leonard trade miss now
The Clippers were not ready to bite on the offer for Leonard when the Warriors had it ready for them. By the time that Los Angeles was willing to move on from Kawhi, the aging superstar had most of the leverage in the situation. He wanted to move back to Toronto.
Are some of the things Leonard said during the episode of Open Gym just PR fluff? To some capacity, probably. That does not mean there was no truth to the sentiment shared altogether.
Leonard had history with the Raptors. His 2018-19 season was the most successful one-year rental the NBA had ever seen.
If there was no contract extension waiting for him on the Clippers, why not return to that kind of comfort and familiarity? That is especially true when considering the Raptors were willing to fork over the money on a new deal.
Sure, fantasizing about a duo of Kawhi and Stephen Curry is understandably fun for Warriors fans. The pair of aging superstars would have catapulted the franchise out of their current state of mediocrity. That is a pleasant thought for all those in the Bay Area.
However, Leonard may not have truly wanted to join the Warriors franchise with the same type of enthusiasm that brought him back to the Raptors. If that was truly the case, there is nothing really worth being regretful of for Golden State.
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