Kawhi Leonard made his intentions clear.
“I’m not really championship chasing trying to find the best team I could win (with),” Leonard said on the Raptors’ Open Gym YouTube channel.
“I didn’t want to put on a thousand jerseys. The city took a liking to my family, I took a liking to the city. Really enjoyed it. My son was born here and he’s been asking me forever when he’s going to come back.”
The Clippers traded Leonard to the Raptors in June, but the deal was put on hold amid the NBA’s investigation into the Los Angeles organization’s circumvention of salary-cap rules. Now that the league has released its findings and penalties for the Clippers, the trade has been made official.
Leonard, who was fined $700,000 for his involvement in the Clippers’ scandal, is already in Toronto preparing for his second stint with the Raptors. In 2019, the star forward led the organization to an NBA championship and earned his second Finals MVP award.
This time around, Leonard isn’t looking to be Toronto’s clear-cut leader.
“I’m not here to take over anything,” he said. “I’m just here to win. If it’s Scottie’s team, it’s his team.”
The Raptors have already put Leonard’s locker next to that of Scottie Barnes, Toronto’s budding star. Since the NBA opened its investigation of the Clippers, Leonard has said little publicly.
Now that he has moved on to Toronto, Leonard has been quick to express his feelings about returning to the city he once led to an NBA championship.
