Kawhi Leonard gave a moving quote about joining the Clippers to be closer to his family and see his

Publish date: 2024-07-02
2019-07-25T17:38:35Z

Ever since his fallout with the San Antonio Spurs, reports and rumors suggested Kawhi Leonard wanted to join one of the two Los Angeles franchises to be closer to where he grew up in Southern California.

In free agency this summer, Leonard followed suit, joining the Los Angeles Clippers over the Lakers and the Toronto Raptors.

Speaking to Yahoo's Chris Haynes after being introduced with Paul George on Wednesday with the Clippers, Leonard said his goal was always to be closer to home.

"Everybody knew where I wanted to play last year during the trade, and it was the Lakers or Clippers and wanting to come back home," Leonard told Haynes.

Leonard gave a moving description to Haynes of how quickly time goes in the NBA and how, due to the long, busy NBA schedule, he rarely got time to be home and be with his family. Leonard said that was a motivating factor in choosing Los Angeles.

He told Haynes:

"It's no discredit to Toronto, I just wanted to play at home. I wanted to do that before I got traded there, and obviously when I got there, it was a goal of mine to make history and get them a championship, and I feel like I did my job there pretty much and that I should be granted to go play where I wanted to after I gave them what they needed. I just wanted to play at home. Like Paul said, our families are able to come to games. But just from my own thinking, it's like we're in the NBA and I played eight years already. Eight years can fly by so fast, and we're not able to do anything with [our families] eight or nine months of the season.

"So once the summer comes, you got three months to either go see family, train, and do your other business obligations. There's really no time to see them, to see your family. I love my family. Over the last five or six years, I'll go back home and see my family, my nieces, and nephews, and they're talking, playing, shooting basketballs, and I'm like, 'Dang, I missed all this. Y'all talking already. What? You're doing this?' So it's like, 'Man, where the hell have I been?' It feels like you been in a matrix or something.

"For me, it was a family situation more so than a basketball decision. Basketball is going to be here long without me, so I feel like when we're here, we just have to make sure we share it with our loved ones, and that's one of the big reasons why I came to the Clippers."

Leonard said he chose the Clippers over the Lakers for several reasons, though he said the Lakers were "close" to landing him. 

The Clippers' infrastructure and the chance to lead them to their first title put them over the top for Leonard. But being close to family was ultimately a huge part in his decision to move to L.A.

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