Masai Ujiri spoke for the first time since Kawhi went to LA, and his message was reassuring

BarDown Staff

Masai on Kawhi's decision: No time to go out and cry, I've lost no sleep, on to the next

The entire country of Canada rallied around the Kawhi Leonard-lead Toronto Raptors during their first ever title run, and the city pulled out all the stops attempting to woo the Finals MVP into staying in Toronto.

Like, ALL the stops.

A post shared by TSN (@tsn_official) on May 22, 2019 at 10:47am PDT

Unfortunately for Raptors fans, it was all for naught, and Kawhi ended up choosing to go home to LA, and join forces with Paul George on the Clippers.

For the first time since his departure, the man who pulled off the risky, blockbuster trade that brought Kawhi to Toronto spoke to the media today, and provided some insight about the trade and some reassurance for Canadian basketball fans.

Masai Ujiri talked about the transparency of the process, and provided some reassurance to reeling Raps fans

Masai Ujiri, speaking for the first time since losing Kawhi: "I was confident but I understand how free agency is... We won a championship, it went well, blah, blah, blah. But I know, I'm not naive to think that in free agency it doesn't change."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 10, 2019

Masai: "He definitely has our blessings. He gave it everything while he was with us and we really appreciated that. I communicated with him afterwards and it was very good. We got a great deal out of this. We won a championship."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 10, 2019

Masai on Kawhi's decision: "There's no time to go out and cry. Honestly, I've lost no sleep. I'm not disappointed. It's on to what's next. I'm telling Raptors fans, don't lose one day of sleep, one second of sleep. We're going to be just fine. We're going to all right."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 10, 2019

Did Masai think Kawhi was upfront with them throughout the process?

Ujiri: "I think he was... (pause) Kawhi was."

Was anybody not?

MU: "I know what we're dealing with here and I appreciate what the process was."

Shot at Uncle Dennis?
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 10, 2019

Masai: "I know free agency. I know how it works. It's not my first rodeo. So you know things are going to go up and down. This was a different kind of free agency. It was high stakes, and we understood that."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 10, 2019

Masai on all the #KawhiWatch speculation: "It's just unreal how there's become a play-by-play on what's going on and it's not real, it's not realistic. One day someone is in the lead and the next someone else is in the lead and no one has even talked. I don't know how it works."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 10, 2019

Some are speculating that the “Kawhi was” comment was a shot at Uncle Dennis, who was apparently very involved in the process. Masai remained the voice of reason to remind Raptors fans that that they're still the reigning NBA champions, and that Kawhi and the Raptors had accomplished all that they'd set out to for the season.

All this aside, Ujiri was fully confident in the Raptors’ ability to be contenders, and if we trust anyone to put together a stellar team despite all odds, it's definitely him.

(H/T: Josh Lewenberg)