Kawhi Was Booed On His LA Home Court Just Days After His Warm Welcome In Canada (VIDEOS)
You'd think after helping a team win their first NBA Championship title, being named Finals MVP in the process, that fans would be pretty supportive. However, that doesn't seem to have been the case for Kawhi Leonard. As Kawhi made his debut for the Los Angeles Clippers, fans could be heard booing the Klaw all night long.
It doesn't look like Kawhi let the negativity get to him, as he hit 30 points of his team's 112, with six rebounds and five assists. That decisive contribution saw the Clippers beat their LA rivals the Lakers in the season opener.
Though Kawhi managed to remind people why he is such a standout talent in the NBA, Lakers fans were certainly not happy to see him.
It all started even before Kawhi arrived on the court at Staples Center — which, it's worth noting, the Clippers share with the Lakers, therefore making any "home advantage" rather more subjective. Fans were booing the champ as he appeared on the screen and when he was introduced to the crowd.
Just last week, Kawhi had a strikingly different experience as he arrived back on Canadian soil for the first time since he left the Raptors. Canadians made sure to give Kawhi a warm welcome when the Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks played a preseason game in Vancouver.
Kawhi gets boo’ed by the home crowd on opening night. That what he gets for signing up to play for the JV team in L… https://t.co/7io4W27saE— Hoop Fiends 🏀💉 (@Hoop Fiends 🏀💉) 1571800167.0
#Lakers fans greeted Kawhi Leonard with boos for his first home game. https://t.co/5Yuw7uI5my— Matthew Moreno (@Matthew Moreno) 1571798468.0
Substantial boos for Kawhi as he was introduced (he was later booed more as he addressed the crowd) https://t.co/Nc5kwPyqGx— Harrison Faigen (@Harrison Faigen) 1571798435.0
The obvious question for many fans was confusion as to why he's receiving all this negativity. It likely just comes down to the LA city rivalry, as well as the fact that everyone loves to take a shot at the king, particularly when he turns down calls to sign for your team to instead join your local enemies.
However, some Twitter responses suggested that if Kawhi had stayed in Toronto, maybe he wouldn't be getting all this heat.
@JustinJett_ Canada didn’t do him like this— Paul Larry (@Paul Larry) 1571804466.0
Lakers fans have no class....Kawhi should have stayed with Toronto. #Kawhi #NBAisBack #nba https://t.co/reMVoB18TD— ChaiLatté🍂 (@ChaiLatté🍂) 1571867634.0
That’s a warm welcome? Kawhi went home only to get booed by LA fans. Shoulda stayed in Toronto Kawhi, we fucking LO… https://t.co/yYHfWbPkCS— Johnny Toronto (@Johnny Toronto) 1571838806.0
@JustinJett_ Maybe if he stayed in Toronto, he would have got a different treatment— andres (@andres) 1571800631.0
However, others were loving the boos coming in from the crowd for Kawhi, or, at the very least, found it pretty entertaining to watch.
Is it just me or is Kawhi getting boo’d at his own “home” game haha https://t.co/8suywo7A8u— Danny Hoyt (@Danny Hoyt) 1571799465.0
@JustinJett_ https://t.co/VZO7MCCuPP— RŸLAN (@RŸLAN) 1571806780.0
One thing is for certain, if Kawhi would've stayed in Toronto, he most likely wouldn't have had this experience, that's for sure.
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