Heading into last season, not many people were giving the Toronto Raptors much of a chance to win the NBA championship. Despite acquiring Kawhi Leonard via trade, many thought he wouldn't give the effort necessary to win. Of course, that was totally false as Leonard took over down the stretch and gave the Raptors their first-ever NBA title. Now that Leonard is a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, there has been a bit of a debate as to whether or not Kawhi Leonard deserves to have his jersey retired by the team.
In a new interview with Sportsnet, Raptors superfan Nav was adamant that Leonard shouldn't get his jersey retired and that while Leonard may have been instrumental in the team's win, there were a lot of other factors at play.
"[The championship] was not just because of him," Nav explained. "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."
When it comes to Kawhi's decision to join the Clippers, Nav said the two-time NBA Champion made a huge mistake.
"I thought he would make the right intelligent decision, but he didn’t make that intelligent decision," Nav explained. "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."
Leonard's next visit to Toronto will certainly be interesting.