Who doesn’t love Fred VanVleet? Gritty, tough, willing defender, and big ball shot maker. Fred VanVleet is the man. While the Raptors are off celebrating a championship, in the near future they have Kawhi Leonard’s free agency to sweat over. Well, maybe VanVleet isn’t sweating over it.
After winning a championship, VanVleet talked about Leonard’s free agency. He had the most honest take possible:
“I think for us, there is nothing more that we can do. We’ve done it. The city has done it. This franchise [has] done it. The coaches have done it. My teammates have done it. We’ve done our job. The best way to recruit somebody is to just be yourself over the course of the year, and I would assume that he knows what is here and what makes this place special,” VanVleet said at the team’s first media availability since winning the NBA title.
“If it’s enough then it’s enough. If it’s not then it’s not. … We would all love for him to be back and if he’s not then we will move on from there. It’s not the biggest deal in the world. He came here and did what he was supposed to do. So he brought this city a championship and I think he has earned his freedom and his career to do what he wants to do and we’ll all respect him and admire him.”
He’s 100 percent right. They won a title. There isn’t anything else the Raptors can do. Unless there’s a crazy scientist out there that can replicate the weather in southern California and magically put it in Toronto, then the Raptors have done everything in their power to keep Leonard. There’s nothing else to talk about.
The Raptors main competition for Leonard’s services are the Clippers. They are an attractive choice. LA has the right role players in place with Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams, Landry Shamet, and many more. It just needs a star and Kawhi is that guy. I’m not even going to begin to predict where all these guys land. All I know is whatever happens with Kawhi, the Raptors should continue to be praised for making the Leonard trade.
