Another year, another spell of disappointment for Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Since the Clips were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the first round last Saturday, I've been stuck all week, just thinking about the missed opportunities Leonard could have had if he'd only bitten the bullet and come back for another stint in the Six.
Obviously, for Raptors fans, there's no need to reiterate the abundance of luxuries Kawhi Leonard had at his disposal in Toronto had he chosen to stay. But, perhaps even more significantly, was the ultimate decision to return home to Los Angeles and form a superteam with Paul George, truly worth it for one of this generation's most tantalizing NBA superstars?
Is there a sense of regret in Kawhi Leonard's career for leaving Toronto?
A string of disappointments followed: blowing a 3-1 lead against Denver in the 2020 Bubble restart, a Kawhi-less Conference Finals run in 2021 that ended against Phoenix, missing the playoffs entirely in 2022 (albeit with Leonard missing the entire season), and then three consecutive first-round exits from 2023 to now.
I totally get it from a personal perspective – there's absolutely nothing like being at home, a place you hold most dear to your heart, somewhere that just feels natural and special.
As much as Leonard didn't cause a fuss about being re-routed to Toronto via San Antonio, this was clearly far from his end goal and definitely not his first choice destination. And yet, Leonard made his way over, took the hit on the chin, and did his best to make the team better. Of course, "better" doesn't quite encapsulate the Kawhi effect for Toronto, as the blockbuster move directly resulted in a storybook title run.
While I'm a big fan of this youthful, positive-minded Raptors outlook, nothing quite compares to that 2018-19 squad in my mind. I bet plenty of people would agree that Raptors basketball pretty much consumed their lives during that period; I know I certainly put everything else on hold to watch them play. That season felt like a truly incredible fever dream.
But going down memory lane will just make me sad.
So, what exactly does Kawhi Leonard's underwhelming track record with the Clippers in the years since the Raptors championship win mean for his legacy?
To be completely honest, for a guy who was arguably the best basketball player on the planet in 2019 to slowly lose that aura over the years, due to injuries and middling team performance, I'd say that is a pretty huge fall from grace. I always supported Leonard no matter what, but sometimes in the years that followed, even when he was healthy, I sort of lost track that he was even still around, almost like he was a relic from the past who got eclipsed by the young stars of tomorrow.
I don't hold anything against Leonard for his decision, nobody can take that title away from his or Toronto's legacy in the annals of basketball lore, but I can't help but think; how much more of a legend could the mystique of Kawhi Leonard's name hold if he just chose to run it back and defend the chip for even one more year?
It's one thing to win a title, but it's a whole other feather in one's cap if you can do it back-to-back, and all biases aside; who would stop that Raptors squad if they brought all the troops back for another run? Boston? Miami?
I think Toronto would've had them beat, and we could've easily witnessed a Lakers vs. Raptors finals matchup. And with the butterfly effect in mind, assuming the season still gets shut down regardless, how much of an issue would it have been anyhow to just get sent back home and return for a Bubble restart? In that case, it was almost like they barely played in Toronto. Of course, hindsight is always 20/20, so all this is just me looking back with the benefit of context.
But I just can't shake the disappointing thought: Kawhi Leonard could be so much higher on the list of all-time greats if he had even spent one more year in Toronto. Maybe this doesn't really eat at Leonard as much as it does for me or others in Raptors Nation, but he'd be lying if somewhere down the line, this thought doesn't cross his mind with some level of regret.
Alas, it just wasn't meant to be. Nevertheless, you can't really be upset with a title coming out of such a historic year.