It might seem like Kawhi Leonard was intent on playing in Los Angeles long-term, but he insists he gave serious thought about re-signing with the Raptors, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “Gave it big consideration,” the Clippers superstar said. “I took my time like I did; I didn’t hurry up and make a quick decision. I talked to the front office in deep detail. It was a hard choice to make.” Leonard added that he had no issues with the Raptors organization. “I had a great time last year with the coaching staff, front office and the players. It was a great experience,” he said.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Raptors president Masai Ujiri gets plenty of credit for building a championship team, but GM Bobby Webster’s influence should not be underestimated, as Dan Robson of The Athletic details in a profile of the young executive. One player agent told Robson that Webster is heavily involved in all aspects of personnel decisions. “Bobby is making a lot of the decisions in terms of everything they do,” the unnamed agent said. “Masai is the lead role and the face of the program, and obviously very involved … but Bobby is the driving force, at least for me, for a lot of the decisions they make.”
- Celtics big man Daniel Theis is aware of the perception that the frontcourt is Boston’s weakness but he tries to drown out the noise, as he told Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston. “We have so many bigs, and it’s whoever plays good that night,” said Theis. “You don’t guard the best bigs with one person. It’s a team effort. We’re [the third best team] in the East and we’re playing really good basketball as a team. So, no, I don’t listen to that.”
- Despite what Theis believes, the Celtics will probably need another quality big man to get past Philadelphia and Milwaukee in the postseason, Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated argues. Joel Embiid‘s monster game against Boston on Thursday put the Celtics’ frontcourt issues on full display, Mannix adds.
