Kawhi Leonard finally officially quit the club that raised his name in the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs. Together with his partner Danny Green, the 2014 NBA MVP winner was exchanged for the Toronto Raptors star De Mar De Rozan, Jakob Poetl, and property rights in the NBA Draft 2019. The 2017/2018 season may be the most difficult for Leonard.
The reason, this 27-year-old basketball player only appeared nine games due to injury knee injury. However, that condition is not the main reason. The biggest problem is the team's riot to deal with the injury.
Not only that, Spurs and Raptors have been talking about this exchange since two weeks ago. They are busy thinking about exchange packages that may occur because they want to both benefit. In fact, Spurs also send money worth $ 5 million to complete the exchange.
In fact, the Raptors reportedly will not exchange De Rozan, but the opposite happened. This certainly makes De Rozan very disappointed. Because, he has shown his loyalty for nine years in Toronto. However, the business problems of both teams became unavoidable.
"Be told something and it turns out the result is not appropriate. Can not be trusted. There is no loyalty here. Sell you as quickly as possible for something that is nothing. Sooner or later we will understand, "wrote DeRozan, on his social media account, dilan sir ESPN.
In this exchange, the President of Raptors Masai Ujiri also actually took a big risk. He made this exchange with the conviction of Leonard to play in Toronto and to renew his contract in the summer of next year.
They can offer Leonard a five-year contract of USD190 million. If Leonard does not want to extend the track con tact, Rap tors should look for another substitute, especially since they have the DeRozan deft.
Meanwhile, Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich has spoken to Leonard and Green about this exchange. He did not want to explain the details of the meeting. He just said, Spurs are now looking at the future even though both players have a big role when the Spurs won the NBA title in 2014.
"We often speak during the summer, about many different things, both on and off the field. So, various attempts are made to see what is best that eventually this exchange comes about. We feel this is the way to go, "Popovich said.
In addition, Popovich thanked Leonard and Green who were able to give the Spurs an NBA title. Now, it's time he noticed DeRozan and Poetl to help them adjust to the club.
Moreover, this is the first time for DeRozan to move to a new club with a new city. So, he just wants to focus ahead and not interested in talking about the past.
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