Masai Ujiri thanks Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green for championship year

While Saturday morning’s NBA news cycle was a tough pill for Masai Ujiri to swallow, the Toronto Raptors president has no hard feelings.

Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, who just agreed to contracts with the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers, respectively, helped the Raptors win their first NBA championship in franchise history. For that, Ujiri is eternally grateful.

The architect of Toronto’s championship roster took the time to thank Leonard and Green for an incredible year of service after the dust had settled from an eventful morning in the NBA.

Ujiri and the Raptors had worked hard to keep Leonard and Green in Toronto. The two were acquired in a blockbuster trade last summer with the San Antonio Spurs and while their futures in Toronto were never guaranteed, their departures were a tough dose of reality for Raptors fans.

But there’s no denying what the two have done for this franchise and Ujiri isn’t about to let Raptors fans forget that.

Meanwhile, it’s onwards and upwards for the Raptors, who now have plenty of questions surrounding their future. Much of the team’s core remains in tact — Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka will all be on the court for Toronto next season. But Ujiri has some work to do in order to replace the championship value that was lost with this morning’s developments.

The Raptors wasted little time, kickstarting their post-Kawhi roster shuffle by signing free agent Stanley Johnson to a two-year contract on Saturday afternoon. More roster moves should be on the way, and as we’ve seen with Ujiri in the past, he’s certainly not afraid to swing for the fences with a big trade.

The Kawhi era may have been short lived in Toronto, but Raptors fans can trust that Ujiri is doing everything he can to help this team defend its title in 2019-20.

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