Leonard remains unfazed amid NBA Finals and lawsuit
OAKLAND, Calif. — Toronto star Kawhi Leonard has more than a few things on his mind these days.
He’ll be a free agent in a few weeks and will decide where he wants to play next season. He’s apparently headed to federal court to solve a disagreement with Nike. He’s clearly dealing with something that isn’t right in his lower body, though he and the team continue to insist that he’s fine.
And, oh, there’s the NBA Finals.
Game 3 of a tied series, Leonard and the Toronto Raptors taking on the twotime defending champion Golden State Warriors, the biggest game yet this season, is happening Wednesday night.
All that would overload some people. Leonard, however, isn’t like most people. He’s unfazed.
“I think it just comes naturally,” Leonard said. “All NBA players, there’s so much distractions from you playing in high school to college to now becoming a pro, it’s probably just pretty much second-nature at this point.”
Leonard is famously, almost mythically, quiet. He tends to give short answers during news conferences. He’s not a social-media guy. So it was an odd look on Monday when he — his attorneys, anyway — filed a federal lawsuit in Southern California against Nike over the rights to his distinctive “klaw” logo, one Leonard says he drew himself in either 2011 or 2012.
He rarely makes news. To make news like that, during an off day for the NBA Finals, with the series shifting to California, was eye-raising.
“It happened a long time ago,” Leonard said of the disagreement between he and Nike — and the lawsuit shows that the battle over the logo has indeed gone on for some time, then ramped up to get to this point. “You guys are just finding out. It’s not a big worry of mine. … I’ve known about it.”
In other words, he’s played through that particular portion of off-court drama throughout these playoffs.
Obviously, he’s handled it just fine.
The Raptors are here largely because of Leonard. Even though six bad minutes that became an 18-0 Golden State run to start the second half of Game 2 — “the quarter from hell,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse called it — ultimately cost Toronto its chance at a 2-0 series lead and retaining home-court advantage, there’s still no obvious sense of uneasiness from the Eastern Conference champions.
“It’s going to be even harder on the road,” Raptors guard Fred VanVleet said. “But we’re capable and we know what we bring to the table.”
The Raptors have already rallied from 2-1 series deficits twice in these playoffs — against Philadelphia in the second round and against Milwaukee in the East finals. No team in the current 16-team postseason format, which the NBA went to in 1984, has overcome three of those in the same season.