The Los Angeles Lakers missing out on then Toronto Raptors free agent Kawhi Leonard in 2019 didn’t prevent them from winning a championship that season. However, it appears that LeBron James finally has the answer for why Leonard chose to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers instead of his home state’s most prestigious team.
“The Raptors believed there was a real chance he would return instead of going to the Clippers despite the lure of Leonard’s home state of California,” the Toronto Star’s Bruce Arthur reports. “Leonard didn’t want to play with LeBron James, so the Lakers were a third wheel in the sweepstakes. Jimmy Butler, a preferred partner, was headed to Miami. And Leonard recognized that Toronto was the best basketball situation, all told.”
LeBron James The Reason Kawhi Leonard Dodged Lakers In 2019
James and Leonard having a rivalry of sorts is sort of obvious with 12 head-to-head NBA Finals battles. James and Leonard have split those Finals series and Finals MVP trophies. In fact, back in 2019, an anonymous NBA front office executive told Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher that Leonard and James had a contentious relationship:
“I would say there’s mutual respect but that there’s an appropriate level of fear as well,” the general manager says. “They know each other are really talented. But there’s not a lot of admiration. I don’t see them going out to dinner.”
In that same Bleacher Report article, an Eastern Conference general manager told Bucher:
“Kawhi looked at joining LeBron on the Lakers and said, ‘I’d be helping him with his legacy more than mine.”
With that being said, the concern about being overshadowed certainly was more of an issue Leonard had. In fact, James was hopeful the Lakers would be the one to land Leonard. He and Anthony Davis even went so far as to personally recruit him to be part of a Big Three, per ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin.
The only question James seemed to have about his fellow star’s free agency is what made him choose the Clippers.
A few months later, controversial ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith claimed to have been told that Leonard was telling people: ‘Tell LeBron to stop being scared to guard me.”
Time Heals All?
Time heals all, at least that’s what they say.
Whether that’s true, three years after Smith appeared on First Take and quoted Leonard’s jab, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year was asked about James breaking the league’s scoring record:
“He’s a one-of-one talent,” Leonard told reporters (h/t On SI reporter Joey Linn). “I mean, you see it for yourself, the way he’s playing at this age. Definitely inspirational for everyone, just to sustain that energy and that mindset to play that long and still wanting to go out and contribute with this effort. So yeah, like I say, he’s an inspiration for everyone.”
The next year, Leonard and James appeared to be on pretty good terms following an early season showdown.
[Highlight] LeBron manages to get Kawhi to show emotion with the post-game dap!
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Last season, Leonard had yet another rather glowing appraisal of his supposed archnemesis, calling him a “one of a kind player (who) helped change the game.”
Frankly, there’s nothing original about the compliments that Leonard has given James. As could be expected of a man of few words, he hasn’t made any profound statements about him. Nevertheless, there are undoubtedly millions of fans that now believe these two future Hall of Famers have an icy relationship, especially with nuance now a forgotten art.
The Last Word On Kawhi Leonard And LeBron James
The Clippers didn’t steal Leonard away because of some deep-seated tension. Instead, a now six-time All-Star that ESPN ranked as the 56th-best player in his high school class related to their underdog story. He wants to compete against or be the top dog more than he wants to join the top dog.
James and Leonard may not be as thick as thieves, no pun intended. That doesn’t mean there’s an issue between them though.
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