It's crazy how quickly things can change in the sports world.
When Kawhi Leonard was first traded to Toronto, there were reports stating he had no interest in playing for the Raptors and that he may even sit out the season.
The latest reports, though, suggest Leonard has really warmed up to the idea of playing for the Raptors. Furthermore, last week when Kawhi was in Toronto, he met with the new head coach of the Raptors (Nick Nurse) and as per TSN/The Toronto Star, the meeting went extremely well:
“I sat down and said, ‘Do you have any questions?’ And he started firing them."
“He was prepared, he had a list of questions. Then when I got up he started asking me about the offence, and I told him how we built it and the things that we do, the shot spectrum, and showing him the spacing. He got out of his chair and got up at the board with me, and they had to drag us out of there in the end because they had to go do something else, but it was great.”
“We could have gone forever. (Raptors management) kept knocking on the door and I was like, ‘A couple more minutes.’ Because we were really into it,” Nurse said. “It was fun to listen to his take. He asked me, ‘How are you going to use me? Where are you going to get me the ball? What do you see?’ And I told him, ‘Listen. To me, you can do pretty much everything."
Those quotes have to excite Raptors fans because it seems like he's all-in on playing for Toronto this season and that's all anyone can ask for at this point.
Down the road, the long-term deal conversation will come up, but the Raptors have time to sell Kawhi on Toronto and part of that process is selling him on the coach, the system and most importantly his role in that system.
(H/T: Josh Lewenberg/The Toronto Star)