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Kawhi Leonard had one of the best playoff runs in NBA history in 2019 to lead the Toronto Raptors to their first and only NBA championship.
Leonard averaged 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists averaged over 24 games and went on to win his second NBA Finals MVP.
But former Raptors star DeMar DeRozan wasn’t as impressed as everyone else. He feels that the Toronto would have won a title whether or not they traded DeRozan for Leonard prior to the 2018-19 season.
“Never to discredit those guys,” DeRozan began while discussing the matter on ESPN First Take. “They won it. They deserved it. I finally have got to a point to where I was happy for them. But for sure, I definitely feel like (Toronto would have won).
“They only person we couldn’t beat was LeBron. That’s just what it was. And I felt, off the year we had before, we just needed one more piece to kind of push us over the top and that piece came to be LeBron going to the West(ern Conference). And I didn’t get an opportunity to see what would’ve happened.”
DeRozan’s answer came after host Stephen A. Smith stated his belief that DeRozan would have led Toronto to the same outcome.
In the same offseason in which DeRozan was traded for Leonard, LeBron James left the Miami Heat for the Los Angeles Lakers. So there’s certainly intrigue there.
But DeRozan’s playoff numbers are a far cry from those of Leonard.
The six-time NBA All-Star has averaged 21.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 63 playoff games with a 21.4 3-point percentage. Meanwhile, Leonard averages 21.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 139 games with a 39.9 percent 3-point percentage.
The efficiency is a glaring difference. But so is Leonard’s ability to elevate his game in the postseason. That’s something DeRozan just hasn’t shown, and it’s hard to believe things would have been different in 2019.