Ujiri’s “positive” talks with Leonard give Raptors fans hope
Toronto Raptors’ President Masai Ujiri gave fans an update on free agent Kawhi Leonard’s next moves during a season-ending press conference on Tuesday.
The conference was heartening for anyone pleading for Leonard to stay with Toronto, as Ujiri conveyed an assuring air of confidence that the MVP will do just that; sharing that his talks with Leonard have been “positive”.
“I think we built a trust there,” said a proud Ujiri.
“I believe winning a championship, him seeing who we are, working with his medical staff combined with our medical staff and getting him to where he wanted to be.”
Ujiri explained that he and Leonard had spoken several times over the past couple days regarding the possibility of him staying with the Raptors.
“I texted Kawhi last night, I talked to his uncle this morning,” Ujiri told The Globe and Mail. “For us, there’s that trust, regardless of wherever it goes, and there’ll be constant communication.”
Despite Toronto’s current advantage, Leonard is expected to meet with the Clippers on July 2nd.
Still, we don’t see Ujiri or Toronto breaking too much of a sweat.
“Kawhi is his own man,” said Ujiri. “He’s shown that since he came here. He’s a confident human being, he’s an unbelievable person, he is his own person. I’m glad we got him for the year.
“I said this to you guys: We have to be ourselves. And we were ourselves the whole year. I think he saw that. I think we built a trust there.”
It’ll be interesting to see if anything changes following Leonard’s sit-down with the Clippers. But if one thing’s for certain, it’s that there’ll always be a special place for Kawai in the heart of Toronto and its people.
