The Toronto Raptors are rapidly approaching perhaps the most nail-biting offseason in franchise history, with Kawhi Leonard's decision likely to make or break the future of the franchise only weeks after winning their first-ever NBA title. Raptors general manager Bobby Webster didn't characterize this decision as stressful, rather just part of a process that simply has to take place.
“I wouldn’t call it stress or anxiety,” said Webster on Sportsnet 590 The FAN Thursday morning, according to Steven Loung. “It’s almost a complete respect for him to make the best decision for himself.”
“I think he knows who we are and we’ll obviously have a chance to sit down and talk about it again, but he knows who we are and I think that’s the benefit of doing the deal a year early, to have that opportunity for him to come to this city, come to this organization and get a sense of who we were.”
President Masai Ujiri and the Raptors front office pulled off perhaps the gutsiest move in team history, trading for Leonard without the assurance that he would be back beyond this past season.
While the gambit paid its dividends with the team winning the championship, the Raptors could go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in a few weeks' worth.
“It fortunately worked out for us as far as winning a championship and that’s the part that you can never predict as far as how the team would’ve played out,” said Webster.
The Raptors are expected to get a meeting with Leonard at some point after June 30, yet all the convincing factors they could pitch to him have already been made with his load management through the course of the season and another NBA title.
Webster put the decision very simply:
“He knows who we are, we know who he is.”
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