Championship or not, Toronto’s most famous non-Drake fan does not think that Kawhi Leonard did enough for the Raptors to merit a place in the rafters.
Speaking this week with Luke Fox of SportsNet, Raptors superfan Nav Bhatia, a season-ticket holder since the team’s inception in 1995 and a ubiquitous presence at each and every one of their games, discussed Leonard’s departure.
“I thought he would make the right, intelligent decision, but he didn’t make that intelligent decision,” Bhatia said. “He’s gone. I’m the least interested in him now. I’m focused on my people, my team. We’ll give him love before the game, we’ll give him love after the game, but for those 48 minutes, I’m going to be throwing every towel, every jersey I can find for him to miss the free throw — and all the fans are going to join me in making the noise.”
Bhatia was then asked if the Finals MVP should have his jersey retired by the Raptors or have a statue commissioned of his famous shot against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
“No! Not at all. No!” replied Bhatia. “[The championship] was not just because of him. It was because of [Fred] VanVleet. It was because of Marc Gasol guarding [Joel] Embiid. It was because of [Kyle] Lowry playing his heart out. It was a lot of people. Not just because of Kawhi. People are giving him more credit than they should. He’s part of a team. For me, it’s everybody: Kawhi, [Serge] Ibaka, Lowry was huge, VanVleet was huge in Golden State in Game 6, when he made those three-pointers … and God assisted us. That was the biggest assist I’ve seen in 24 years, in the Philadelphia game.”
Even though he delivered the first NBA title in Raptors franchise history, Leonard did not come to Toronto out of his own volition and left for the L.A. Clippers this summer at the first opportunity he had. Earlier reports suggested that the Raptors might actually retire Leonard’s No. 2 jersey, but Bhatia, who is as qualified as anyone to opine on the team, has a fair point here.
