Lou Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers made some interesting comments the other day while appearing on Gilbert Arenas' podcast. Williams was speaking about free agency and touched on the Toronto Raptors' situation when it comes to signing and re-signing star players. Essentially, Williams explained that there are some roadblocks to signing in Toronto especially when it comes to logistics.
Per Williams:
“The problem they’re gonna have is keeping guys there. Once you’re there, you’ll love playing for the Raptors, you’ll love playing for the country, ’cause it’s [basically] the whole country. The that fourth, fifth month of the season you’re like goddamn, I wanna go home. When you play in Toronto, you feel like you’re playing overseas. It feels like it. You can’t wait to go on the road sometimes, just to be in America. It’s little things you don’t think of like the channels on your TV, your phone bill, you have to get like a Canadian bank account. Things you don’t really think about. And then you have kids and you’re raising your kids out in Canada. Once you’re there, you’re like ‘oh, this is dope’ — but the hard thing is keeping guys.”
After Fox Sports reported about the comments, Williams took to Twitter to call the publication out for clickbait and clarified that he's a big fan of Toronto.
"I gave insight to some of the challenges playing in Toronto. Same interview I said once you’re there you’ll realize how dope it is to play there. Put some respect on my name and words," wrote Williams.
The Raptors are currently in the midst of trying to keep Kawhi Leonard in Toronto for next season.