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The Toronto Raptors couldn't have made a better case to Kawhi Leonard.
They let him set the terms of “load management” during the regular season, shrugging off widespread criticism. They mortgaged the future by trading for Marc Gasol at the deadline, keeping pace in an Eastern Conference arms race. Nick Nurse pulled all the right strings from both schematic and rotational perspectives throughout the playoffs, simultaneously allowing him the freedom to be Toronto's undisputed alpha dog, earning the franchise its first title and Leonard his second Finals MVP trophy. Ownership was willing to spend to make another go at the Larry O'Brien Trophy next season, too, and Masai Ujiri surely would have been comfortable letting Leonard sign a one-plus-one deal, getting him back on the market next summer when Toronto's other aging impact players are scheduled to hit the open market.
In the end, the lure of his native Southern California – as became common knowledge when his relationship with the San Antonio Spurs started unraveling in 2017-18 – simply proved too much for Leonard ignore, especially after the LA Clippers pushed all-in by dealing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, and an unprecedented haul of future first-round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Paul George.
Indeed, as reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, there was just nothing more Ujiri and the Raptors could have done to convince Leonard to stay in Toronto.
What Ujiri couldn't give Leonard was out of his control: Geography, weather, and a chance to return to his Southern California roots.
The Raptors got a championship out of their one-season rental of Leonard. The deal that brought him to Toronto last August will go down as one of the most memorable, meaningful, and potentially instructive trades in NBA history.
But Leonard plays for the Clippers now, and the Raptors, still basking in championship glow, must move on.
