After 24 games, the Toronto Raptors sit atop the NBA standings as the best team in the league with a 20-4 record. It’s not an unfamiliar sight to see the Canadian ballclub dominating the league but it is quite different with a new coach and a new franchise player at the center of the team’s early season success.
Kawhi Leonard took DeMar DeRozan’s place as Raptors star and he has blossomed in the role. He has been playing so well and saying all the right things that would make one believe that Leonard may actually end up re-signing with the team when he becomes a free agent next summer.
Here are five reasons why Kawhi Leonard will end up staying in Toronto beyond this season.
5. Change in Image
Leonard may be the quiet superstar but he is definitely aware of the hit his image took this past year. From statements given by former San Antonio Spurs teammates and head coach Gregg Popovich to his role in it by refusing to speak for himself, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year awardee was portrayed as a malcontent who selfishly wanted to be seen as a star on his own terms.
Now that he’s leading a team in Toronto that respects him and knows how to utilize him as much as the Spurs did, there’s no question that Leonard is rejuvenated by finally getting the chance to play in a safe environment again. He is seen by many as the main catalyst for the Raptors’ quick start and he knows it.
Regardless of the team’s performance at the end of the year, Leonard will want to keep his image clean from here on. The selfish tag should go away if he decides to stay be the new face of the Raptors’ franchise for years to come. Staying in Toronto is going to be good for his image, not just now but for the rest of his career.
4. Familiarity and Loyalty
Based on how he has behaved these past few months, we’ve discovered more about Kawhi Leonard than we ever have since he joined the league a few years ago. His quiet nature, loyalty to family and how hurt he was to the point of not wanting anything to do with the Spurs franchise suggests that he fully invests himself wherever he is. He likes a stable environment but that was no longer going to be the case after his teammates, his coaches and probably others in the organization questioned his honesty and ability to play through pain.
Leonard’s return to San Antonio is coming soon, on Jan. 3 to be exact, when the Raptors take on the Spurs at the AT&T Center in what is expected to be a hostile environment for the All-Star forward. The team will rally around him to protect him and that will give him even more reason to create a bond with the team that has his back.
He was welcomed with open arms in Toronto and he has rewarded their trust with superb play from the very beginning.
If the Raptors play their cards right and they treat Leonard like family the way he wants to be treated, it will be easier for their newest superstar to re-sign with them in the offseason.
3. Learning to be a Leader
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had another perspective on Leonard’s time in San Antonio this time regarding his leadership skills or the lack thereof.
“Kawhi was a great player, but he wasn't a leader or anything,” Popovich told reporters via ESPN’s Michael C. Wright. “Manu and Patty were the leaders. Kawhi's talent will always be missed, but that leadership wasn't his deal at that time. That may come as he progresses, but Manu and Patty filled that role last year, and LaMarcus [Aldridge] came a long way in that regard also.”
If you ask me, Pop sounded as if he simply talked matter-of-factly about his former star player’s leadership abilities during his time with the Spurs and it was not delivered in a condescending way. It’s absolutely true that Kawhi Leonard wasn’t the leader that Tim Duncan was especially with his low key nature. But, as Wright pointed out, he was growing into the role after Duncan retired by addressing the media after games.
That growth was stunted the moment he was out for most of last season. This year, he is back to leading the best way he believes he can and his teammates understand that he does it differently than most.
“I lead by example coming into practice every day. Just going hard and coming into these games mentally focused,” Kawhi Leonard said in an interview Sunday after a game against the Miami Heat. “You can't see things once you're playing on the floor. Guys ask me questions about their matchup, or if I see something on the floor, I'm telling guys, ‘Go here, go there,' just motivating people.
“I'm just trying to lift people's spirits up, that's about it. Don't try to get anybody too down, just lift them up.”
Leonard is leading a team not only to the playoffs but also to win a championship and that is a reachable goal for this Raptors team.
2. LeBron in L.A.
Prior to being traded to the Raptors last July, Leonard’s preferred destination was reportedly the Los Angeles Lakers. But the two sides couldn’t get a deal done and the Lakers were set on building the team around LeBron James who became a free agent after opting out of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers. According to former NBA player and now ESPN analyst Jalen Rose, he believes that Leonard wouldn’t want to play for the Lakers because he’ll be playing under James’ shadow.
Rose also added that the appeal for the 6-foot-7 forward to continue playing in Toronto is that he is backed, not only by the entire city but also by the entire country of Canada as the lone NBA team in that nation. That is going to be hard for Leonard to pass up knowing that he wants to be the franchise player and not just play under the shadow of someone as big of a star as James.
1. Winning Culture
The four other reasons mentioned above are not going to matter if the Raptors are losers. But that is far from what the organization has been the past few years. Despite its lack of playoff success, Toronto is a winning environment with a winning culture, something that Leonard is familiar with when he played for the Spurs. The Raptors haven’t missed a beat after firing former head coach Dwane Casey and replacing him with Nick Nurse, and trading DeRozan for Leonard. The team has taken off under the leadership of Nurse, Leonard and longtime point guard Kyle Lowry.
Any competitor in any sport will tell you that winning is addictive, something that they want to continue to experience. It’s the kind of healthy addiction and is hard to let go.
There’s little reason to believe that this Raptors squad will be the same team that lost to LeBron James and his former Cavs team in the playoffs. If the Raptors reach the Finals, most especially, with him as the focal point, Leonard might as well declare his interest in staying in Toronto as soon as the series is over.
It’s not that far-fetched of an idea to assume that once the offseason arrives, Leonard will think long and hard about what he will be losing if he leaves Toronto and that he will eventually re-sign with the team. Who knows? Perhaps he has the championship trophy in hand while he’s contemplating a future with the Raptors by then.
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