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Kawhi appreciates Toronto, but hasn't come around on the winter weather yet


While Danny Green has jokes about Raptors fans wanting to shelter Kawhi Leonard from the winter weather in Toronto, it turns out they may have a legitimate reason to be concerned.

As the Raptors compete to recapture the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, Leonard’s impending free agency remains on the back of everyone’s mind. When the team swung a blockbuster trade to acquire Leonard last summer, Toronto had one season to impress the former NBA Finals MVP both on and off the court.

And while a Raptors team led by Kawhi has shown it can compete with the best of them, the city of Toronto has one major factor working against it in its effort to convince Leonard to stay.

The former Defensive Player of the Year answered questions about Toronto during this weekend’s NBA All-Star festivities in Charlotte, North Carolina. And while he’s got tons of love for the fans, Leonard joins a chorus of Torontonians that are complaining about the winter weather.

If you were looking for proof that Leonard isn’t actually a robot that’s highly skilled at basketball, you don’t get much more human than complaining about the weather. But that’s cold comfort for Raptors fans, who were hoping Kawhi wouldn’t notice the sub-zero temperatures and incessant snow storms in Toronto and would therefore decide to stay.

When push comes to shove, the weather likely won’t be a huge factor in Kawhi’s free-agency decision, but if we were to make an adjustment to the Kawhi Dooms Day clock in Toronto, we may be a minute or two closer to midnight.

Kawhi Leonard hates the cold. (Getty)
Kawhi Leonard hates the cold. (Getty)

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