Leonard’s performances aren’t going unnoticed
With Clippers owner Ballmer sitting front row in Toronto, it looks like he’s trying to woo star
Maybe it was just a coincidence that Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was in a courtside seat at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Maybe he wanted to throw his team an elaborate Super Bowl party since they were on the road.
Maybe he wanted to be in Detroit to try to make amends with Blake Griffin on Saturday and just stuck around for the back-to-back.
Maybe the weather was too nice in southern California and he needed some February cold as an antidote.
Maybe any of those, right?
It certainly wouldn’t have anything to do with getting his face — and visions of his big, fat wallet — in front of the Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard any way he could, right?
It certainly wouldn’t have anything to do with Leonard’s anticipated free agency that’s coming in July and Ballmer’s Clippers being a presumed destination right? Nah.
It wasn’t like Ballmer stood up and waved a Clippers No. 2 jersey with “Leonard” on the back or anything, and the billionaire didn’t have a suitcase full of cash at his feet.
So, tampering? Maybe not, but certainly some subliminal message sending, one could argue.
It’s going to be that way for the rest of the season. Conspiracy theorists may have a field day with every nuanced move on the Raptors free agent. People will read into things what they will and if Leonard keeps performing like he did Sunday, the ranks of his suitors will grow deep.
Leonard made his first five shots of the game, beating a noted plus-defender in
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Avery Bradley like Bradley was a G Leaguer, and finished with 18 points in just 26 minutes before sitting out the entire fourth quarter of Toronto’s easy 121103 win over the weary Clippers.
“Bradley’s usually pretty tough, as we know. He’s been pretty tough on Kyle (Lowry) and DeMar (DeRozan) in the past, but Kawhi’s pretty big, a pretty strong guy,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “I know they were trying to double him out of the game plan, but Kawhi did a good job of going quick before the double came a couple times.”
The performance — as understated as many of Leonard’s top ones are — was thorough without being too flashy. He was dominant without taking over the game.
Ballmer, Clippers coach Doc Rivers and all the players and fans in the building noticed.
“Bradley’s a heckuva defender, but he got a couple of early fouls, so (that) just kind of compounded it,” Toronto’s Fred VanVleet said. “I thought our flow, we started the game with great flow, and we ended up throwing it to Kawhi four or five times in a row, just because he had a favourable matchup and guys were in foul trouble, so you always try to take advantage of those moments.” There will be many more words written about Leonard’s future and the subtle wooing of him that will go on between now and his free agency on July 1. Already there have been team presidents and high-ranking executives of other teams visitng Toronto out of nowhere, and it’s going to continue.
Leonard is certainly not one to be swayed by any of the shenanigans — it would be shocking if he even knew Ballmer was in the building, and more shock- ing if he even cared — and all he’s done with the Raptors is show a desire to win.
“He’s a pro of the highest level,” Nurse said of Leonard before Sunday’s game. “He’s a serious worker. He cares about winning. Any time I ever try to start talking about individual play, he always is veering the conversation back toward: I want to win, I want to win, I want to give you everything I’ve got and win.
“That’s impactful when you’ve got one of your star players speaking that way. It carries a lot of weight in the locker room.”
And in the front-row seats.