74 reasons why Kawhi Leonard is staying with the Toronto Raptors

Kawhi Leonard delivered a magical season for the Toronto Raptors. Now comes the big question: will he stay? We can think of 74 reasons why he will!

“He Stay!” is a phrase Toronto Raptors fans would love to utter as a fact, not simply as a wish. Kawhi Leonard just completed a dream season for the franchise: winning an NBA Championship by dethroning the dynasty, the Golden State Warriors.

Entering the season, the Raptors were considerations, but far from the favorite to win the championship. The Boston Celtics were favored ahead of them, the Houston Rockets were favored ahead of them, and the Golden State Warriors were certainly favored ahead of them.

Kawhi led the Raptors to second-place in the East entering the playoffs, despite only playing 60 games thanks to “load management”.  While they stumbled yet again to begin the postseason, the Raptors gutted their way through the playoffs.

It was a historic performance from Kawhi as he averaged 30.5 points in the playoffs and scored the third-most points in a single playoff run. The only two ahead of him? Michael Jordan in 1992 and LeBron James in 2018.

That the Golden State Warriors got hurt and Kawhi cooled off a bit in the NBA Finals didn’t diminish anything. Fact is, Kawhi led one of the NBA’s worst playoff franchises and turned them into an overnight winner.

Toronto, along with the rest of Canada, were swept by basketball fever. Or rather, by Kawhi fever beginning with his iconic “The Shot” against the Philadelphia 76ers, the first-ever walk-off Game 7 buzzer-beater.

Whether Kawhi leaves or says, he is already a legend in the city. He is already the greatest Raptor of all time. And not even the grumpiest or most cynical of Raptors fans can hate on him for doing what he feels is best.

Kawhi can leave and head back home to Los Angeles. But there are more than enough reasons—74, after the total amount of Raptors wins in 2018-19—where HE STAY!