“Kids Trying to Dunk Like Him”: Andrew Wiggins Believes Kawhi Leonard, Who Won Canada its First Championship, Didn’t Had as Much Impact as This NBA Legend

Kawhi Leonard still retains affection for Toronto, despite finally deciding to return home and join the LA Clippers in 2019. Given that he contributed to Canada’s first NBA championship, Kawhi will undoubtedly always be loved there.

Some people think Kawhi Leonard would have had the perfect basketball environment with the Toronto Raptors if it weren’t for his fondness for Southern California and desire to close off his career at home.

Vince Carter
Credits: CBC

Kawhi has yet to duplicate the success he enjoyed in Toronto with the Clippers. Still, he will have many more opportunities now that he extended his deal with the team for an additional four years and $176 million this offseason. However, Canadian star Andrew Wiggins feels that Kawhi didn’t have as much impact as this Raptors legend in Canada.

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Andrew Wiggins believes Vince Carter had a bigger impact in Canada than Kawhi Leonard

Before attending high school in West Virginia, Wiggins, also known as Air Canada, attended an Ontario-based high school. Like every young person in Canada, Wiggins was a die-hard supporter of the Vince Carter-led Raptors. VC was a member of the Raptors from 1998 until the 2004–05 campaign. During that period, Carter rose to fame in Canada and was well known throughout the nation.

“I already told you how big of a fan I was, and still am. For what you did for the game of basketball, for what you did for Canada. All the little kids — not even just kids — adults, everybody. You helped shape the game for Canada Basketball, so I appreciate you. I never got the chance to go to any games or stuff like that but just watching it, my whole family is big on basketball, and (Vince) was like the savior for basketball in Canada.”

“Everywhere you go, you see kids with his jersey, you see kids trying to dunk like him, you might even see some kids that have a bald head because he had a bald head.”

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Carter began his career with the Raptors in 1999, a time during which he helped raise basketball in Canada to a level that no other player of his generation could have achieved. Not even Kawhi Leonard. Carter is the only NBA player to have played in four different decades. The NBA has never seen a player with Carter’s special blend of elite talent and showmanship, giving him the moniker “half-man half-amazing.”

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