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Danny Green on Kawhi's future: 'Toronto is gonna be hard to turn down'

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports / Reuters

Kawhi Leonard has been silent since he was traded to the Toronto Raptors. Danny Green, on the other hand, has been saying all the right things.

Leonard is expected to decline his player option for the 2019-20 season to become a free agent next summer, but Green believes it'll be difficult for the two-time Defensive Player of the Year to say no to Toronto despite his reported desire to play in his hometown of Los Angeles.

"I don't know where his mind is at for the future. I can't predict or tell you. I can just tell you that the city of Toronto is gonna be hard to turn down after being there," Green said on his "Inside the Green Room" podcast. "I've been going every summer for the past 10-plus years. It's a great city and the fans are amazing.

"The last couple weeks, just going up for a couple days here and there and how they've shown me so much love. As a Raptor now, I'm so much more well known there and getting a great amount of feedback, a great amount of love and all types of different stuff from the fans. So it's gonna be tough for him to turn down."

The pair were dealt by the San Antonio Spurs in mid-July in exchange for All-Star DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a 2019 protected first-rounder. Leonard appeared in just nine games last season, struggling with a quad injury throughout the year.

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