The Washington Wizards were giving Masai Ujiri a very tempting offer to lure him away from the Toronto Raptors, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to bite. $10 million a year and ownership shares aren’t going to pry him.
In talking to the media today, Ujiri stressed how much it’s always been Toronto and how much he loves it there, as much as his family does. To him, he says the team in a very good situation moving forward, with or without Kawhi Leonard.
He credits Kawhi with bringing that calm confidence to the team that helped propel them to an NBA Championship and his influence on Kyle Lowry.
Ujiri also talked about and opened up about trading DeMar DeRozan and how it affected Lowry, but how their relationship got better throughout the season and why he didn’t trade Kyle in the first place. He said he always believed in him and his demeanor was something he admired and to see his growth has been great.
Back to Kawhi, he’ll be waiting for a meeting, but he emphasized the team has done everything in their power to show him trust and what they can do. He knows Leonard is how own man and they will wait for his decision when it comes.
You can watch the press conference video up top and see what else he said.