By Last Word On Sports,Quenton S Albertie

Copyright yardbarker

The Los Angeles Lakers missing out on then Toronto Raptors free agent Kawhi Leonard in 2019 didn’t prevent them from winning a championship that season. However, it appears that LeBron James finally has the answer for why Leonard chose to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers instead of his home state’s most prestigious team.

“The Raptors believed there was a real chance he would return instead of going to the Clippers despite the lure of Leonard’s home state of California,” the Toronto Star’s Bruce Arthur reports. “Leonard didn’t want to play with LeBron James, so the Lakers were a third wheel in the sweepstakes. Jimmy Butler, a preferred partner, was headed to Miami. And Leonard recognized that Toronto was the best basketball situation, all told.”

LeBron James The Reason Kawhi Leonard Dodged Lakers In 2019

James and Leonard having a rivalry of sorts is sort of obvious with 12 head-to-head NBA Finals battles. James and Leonard have split those Finals series and Finals MVP trophies. In fact, back in 2019, an anonymous NBA front office executive told Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher that Leonard and James had a contentious relationship:

“I would say there’s mutual respect but that there’s an appropriate level of fear as well,” the general manager says. “They know each other are really talented. But there’s not a lot of admiration. I don’t see them going out to dinner.”

In that same Bleacher Report article, an Eastern Conference general manager told Bucher:

“Kawhi looked at joining LeBron on the Lakers and said, ‘I’d be helping him with his legacy more than mine.”