Despite winning an NBA championship with Kawhi Leonard as the focal point and keeping him healthy with their load management program, it appears as though the Toronto Raptors still trail the Los Angeles Clippers for the future services of their superstar forward.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Raptors still “got a ways to go.”
“There’s no question that the Raptors closed the gap but I still think that they’ve got a ways to go here to compete with the Clippers,” Wojnarowski said on Wednesday. “They’re running out of time. Free agency is less than two weeks away.”
Wojnarowski previously reported on Tuesday that Leonard’s free-agent decision will come down to the Clippers and Raptors, and said that the Clippers were “poised to be able to lure him from Toronto.”
It would seem, according to Wojnarowski, the the Clippers are still in the pole position ahead of the Raptors.
Toronto can, of course, offer the most attractive long-term deal at approximately $190 million over five years compared to a Los Angeles offer of $140 million over four years, but that might, ultimately, not matter too much to Leonard.
The NBA’s free-agent moratorium period is set to begin June 30 at 6 p.m. ET.
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