Kawhi Leonard still loves Toronto
And the feeling will always be mutual
After two long months on Bo Bichette watch, we got our answer late last week when it was announced that the former (wow it hurts to say former) Blue Jay had signed with the New York Mets.
Goodbyes are never easy, but we’ve been down this road before, notably when beloved former Toronto Raptor Kawhi Leonard made his move to the Los Angeles Clippers after leading us to the NBA Championship in 2019.
Related: The Toronto Tempo have announced two assistant coaches
Last weekend, Leonard was back in Toronto with the Clippers, and he was kind enough to host a kids’ basketball clinic at the TAT Stadium in Scarborough, as reported by CTV News. A mural depicting Leonard playing in the 2019 championship was unveiled, and the stadium’s founder, Jackie Fung, said the stadium’s basketball court would be named after Leonard.
Speaking to attendees at the event, which included Mayor Olivia Chow, Leonard assured us he still cares.
“Toronto is still in my heart,” he said.
We needed to hear this.
Related: NHL commissioner Gary Bettman binged all of Heated Rivalry in one night
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
