Owner Steve Ballmer is running defense, with the team issuing two statements denying the improper payments, while Ballmer himself conducted a sit-down interview to defend Leonard and his team. Now it appears that one of the biggest reasons the Raptors were unable to retain Leonard after the NBA Championship 2019 season was that they were unwilling to arrange for similar payments in order to keep Kawhi in Toronto.
As one source put it, when told about all the corporate sponsors in Toronto who would be happy to have Leonard as a pitchman, his camp said, “We don’t want to do anything.” Raptors representatives said any sponsor would want to shoot
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