Kawhi Lenorad is showing his love for the “6.”
In a nine-minute clip released Wednesday on YouTube, Leonard sat down for the team’s documentary series “Open Gym.” He touched on several subjects, including his notoriously elusive legacy.
“I’m not really championship chasing. … I didn’t want to put on a thousand jerseys,” Leonard said in the video. “This city took a liking to my family, and I took a liking to this city. I really liked it. My son was born here, and he’s been asking me forever when he’s going to come back. Now he’s back, and he’s able to see it rather than me tell him the great stories that happened.”
“This city always gave me love and showed support from everybody. I’m happy that they love what I did here,” Leonard added. “I gave this city everything. I was coming in that year injured, and I just gave them my all.”
“Hopefully they embrace me back and (I) give them all again, and we can make something special happen once again.”
In his single season with the Toronto Raptors (2018–19), Kawhi Leonard delivered one of the most dominant individual playoff runs in NBA history. Averaging a career-high 26.6 points during the regular season, he elevated his game in the postseason to average 30.5 points and 9.1 rebounds over 24 playoff games.
He capped the run by leading Toronto to its first-ever NBA championship and securing his second career Finals MVP award.
At the center of the Clippers’ notorious salary-cap scandal was Leonard, whose involvement earned him a $700,000 league fine. He reeived no additional suspension or penalty. The Clippers, however, paid a far steeper price, forfeiting five first-round draft picks. Having agreed to trade for Leonard on June 30, the Raptors immediately froze the deal pending the outcome of the NBA’s probe. They couldn’t risk the league nullifying his contract, which would have meant losing Leonard along with the players and draft picks they surrendered to get him.
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