Kawhi Leonard is no longer a part of the Raptors, and now some details are emerging on exactly what Kawhi wanted if he were to stay with the Raptors.
In the report, it states that Leonard’s camp had “unreasonable” requests for the Raptors, and that team president Masai Ujiri quickly became suspicious about Kawhi’s intentions.
Kawhi’s infamous “Uncle Dennis” is believed to be at the forefront of these requests, and has been known to be a bit of a nuisance in the past, especially when Leonard was with the Spurs.
Via TSN:
That confidence began to waver after they met with Leonard and his uncle Dennis Robertson in Toronto last Wednesday, sources told TSN. That’s when they first questioned the intentions of Leonard’s camp.
According to sources, Leonard and his camp – namely Uncle Dennis – asked for a lot from the Raptors in that meeting, things players don’t generally ask for in standard contract negotiations.
In some cases, they were asking for things that Ujiri – one of the most well-compensated executives in the league – wouldn’t have even had at his disposal. Their requests were “unreasonable”, a source said, which made the Raptors wonder whether Leonard was seriously considering them at all.
Was Leonard upfront with Ujiri and the Raptors throughout the process?
“I think he was,” Ujiri responded, before pausing. “Kawhi was.”
Was anybody not?
“I know what we’re dealing with here and I appreciate what the process was,” he responded. “I know free agency, I know how it works. It’s not my first rodeo. You know things are going to go up and down. This was a different kind of free agency. It was high stakes and we understood that.”
Masai Ujiri on if Kawhi was upfront with them throughout the whole process then pauses to corrects himself: “I think he was… (pause) Kawhi was.” pic.twitter.com/qm1OE74iJM
— The Render (@TheRenderNBA) July 10, 2019
Leonard never had any intention of playing in Toronto. Obviously when he won an NBA Championship, it made his decision appear a little bit harder.
Uncle Dennis is not to be tangled with.
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