The most revealing detail about Kawhi Leonard’s lone season in Toronto might be that it never pretended to be anything else.
On the Hello and Welcome podcast, Fred VanVleet said Leonard’s intentions were clear from the moment he arrived in 2018:
“I don’t know why they traded for me. I don’t want to be here. I’m not staying here.”
Fred VanVleet revealed that on Kawhi’s first day in Toronto, he said he had no plans of staying
“I don’t know why they traded for me. I don’t want to be here. I’m not staying here.” 😅
(🎥 @hellowelcomepod )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 15, 2025
VanVleet’s point wasn’t to drag a former teammate; it was to underline how early the locker room understood the arrangement. The Raptors had not acquired a long-term face of the franchise. They had acquired a one-year, all-in opportunity.
Toronto’s championship season becomes even more remarkable when framed as a partnership with an expiration date, a team and a superstar aligned on one mission rather than one future. Leonard played that season like a player determined to control his own narrative, and the Raptors built a roster and an environment sturdy enough to win even with the clock ticking.
The ending, of course, matched the first sentence. After that 2018–19 run, Leonard left in free agency and signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in July 2019, exactly as VanVleet said he’d been signaling all along.
