DeMar DeRozan confidently claims he would’ve led Raptors to championship glory just like Kawhi Leonard

NBA star DeMar DeRozan has been making the headlines lately for his recent comments involving the Toronto Raptors and Kawhi Leonard.

DeMar DeRozan confidently claims he would’ve led Raptors to championship glory just like Kawhi Leonard

Kawhi Leonard and DeMar DeRozan

NBA star, DeMar DeRozan was one of the most loyal players to the Toronto Raptors early in his career but failed to win an NBA title with them. He spent 6 years with the franchise but was eventually traded for Kawhi Leonard. However, LeBron James‘ dominance with the Cleveland Cavaliers did not allow DeRozan to win an NBA title. Eventually, James left the Cavs in 2019.

The Toronto Raptors traded DeRozan for Leonard giving them their first NBA title in 2019. That said, now DeRozan recently opened up on his appearance on the First Take show. He made a bold claim stating that the Raptors would have nevertheless won the title even if he wasn’t traded in 2019. This is due to James moving to the Western Conference as per DeRozan.

On the First Take Show, when asked whether the Raptors would have won a championship if they hadn’t traded him for Kawhi Leonard, DeMar DeRozan said:

FS Video
I have no doubt in my mind the same outcome would have happened.
DeMar DeRozan on First Take

This is well and truly a huge claim made by DeRozan. However, he also stated that he was the happiest person when the Raptors won the NBA.

On the other hand, Leonard was one of the main players for the Raptors. Leonard led Toronto to a win over the Philadelphia 76ers squad in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, averaging 34.7 points and 9.9 rebounds on 53 percent shooting. They eventually ended up going all the way and winning the decorated 2019 NBA title.

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Former Raptors coach Nick Nurse opened up on meeting Kawhi Leonard and his desire to ‘win it all’

In the 2019 NBA season, Kawhi Leonard enjoyed one of his legendary runs with the Raptors, winning the title with them. In the same spirit, Nick Nurse discussed a story on the Draymond Green Show involving Kawhi Leonard and the Raptors. Head coach Nurse claimed on the show that Leonard had the desire to ‘win it all in one year.’ 

He got traded to Toronto, I'm meeting with him and it was super cool. And he(Kawhi Leonard) said to me, ‘Listen, I want to play to win. I'm gonna play to win it all. I'm gonna do it for one year. After that, I'm not sure what’s going to happen. But for one year, I'm gonna play 100 percent. I'm gonna play to win the title.’ So, I(Nick Nurse) was not totally shocked.
Nick Nurse on the Draymond Green Show

Moreover, Leonard remained true to his vow when he joined the Toronto Raptors to win the NBA title in 2019 and left the team after just one season. In the 2019 NBA playoffs, he averaged 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.7 steals, and an accurate shooting percentage of 61.9 per game. Eight of his games included at least 35 points for him.

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