While many across Canada are disappointed about Kawhi Leonard electing to leave the Toronto Raptors for the Los Angeles Clippers in free agency, including Nick Nurse, the Raptors head coach says he understands Leonard's rationale.

"I think you can't blame a guy for wanting to go home," Nurse told media members Saturday night at the Las Vegas Summer League. "That's what he texted me today. 'I'm going home.' And I just said, 'You've changed a lot of lives, man, by what you've accomplished in Toronto. Mine especially.' And thanked him for what he did, and we'll look to the future, and we'll look to [win a title] again."

After days of speculation regarding Leonard's decision that left the sports world on edge, news that the two-time Finals MVP had ultimately selected his hometown Clippers was reported early Saturday morning. Where was Nurse when he got the news?

"I was just hanging out with a couple of the assistants," Nurse said. "Got the text message and then got the news report quickly afterward. I'm not totally surprised. I think we all knew that [Leonard leaving] was a situation that could happen. He delivered big-time, played his heart out for us. We certainly are going to relish this championship for a long time. And we're going to stop celebrating it pretty soon. Not quite yet, but then we'll get back to work. I mean we got a tremendous challenge ahead of us, but I always say that the challenge is our fuel and the tank is certainly full. So we got a change for some guys to expand their roles maybe that wouldn't have had expanded roles in the situation, and I think we got some guys capable of doing that. So I look forward to the challenge as I said, and let's go get after it."

With Leonard choosing to leave the Raptors, who took good care of him health-wise and whom he won the 2018-19 NBA championship with, many will wonder if there was anything else the team could have possibly done to have him re-sign with Toronto. Nurse says he's satisfied with the Raptors’ efforts.

"I think when we first got him there were a lot of questions thrown at me like, 'What are you going to do to keep him?' And we said, 'We're going to take great care of him health-wise.' We did an unbelievable job, Alex McKechnie and his staff. I thought we managed that to a T. We said we were going to have a good team ... and we did that as well. We knew we'd give him tremendous support from our fan base, and we certainly did that. That was amazing, the reaction and support that the whole country gave our team and him."

Where do the Raptors, who are now devoid of a true superstar player, go from here?

"Look to the future and try to do it again next year," Nurse said. "I don't know at this particular time how we do it, but it's not unlike going into a playoff series. I'd look at these teams and I'd say, 'I don't know how in the hell we're going to beat them,' and then you go to work and put a plan together. So right now I'm not sure how we're going to be able to do it, other than we're going to come out and guard you, and we're going to move the ball, and we're going to play with energy, and we're going to try and play a lot of people, and we're going to keep developing our guys. And Masai and [general manager] Bobby [Webster] will keep acquiring talent. And I'll coach the team that they give me, and I'll do that to the best of my ability."

It was no secret that the Clippers has been very interested for quite some time in acquiring Leonard, and there were even reports last season that the Raptors had filed a complaint with the league. Nurse says the Raptors are not currently pursing a tampering complaint.

“No. We’re not. And I don’t think from my standpoint, I didn’t sense it, don’t have any of those feelings at all,” he said.

“I again would state that he’s going home. That’s a hard draw for any of us. If you guys were all playing somewhere else and got a chance to go back and make the most money you could make in your hometown dream scenario, really, then you’re gonna go home and do it,” he said.
“So, again we’ll wish him well and the best of luck until we have to go against him.”