Kawhi Leonard wants the 2020 championship, regardless of asterisk.
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00:00 In the weeks and months leading up to the NBA restart, there's been a lot of talk about how fans should categorize this year's NBA
00:06 championship. Should it have an asterisk?
00:08 Is it gonna have a gold star as some coaches have recommended? To Kawhi Leonard, that talk doesn't really matter.
00:13 All that matters to him is that he wants to win.
00:15 On a conference call with reporters on Monday afternoon, Leonard spoke about why he feels determined to win this year's championship,
00:20 saying quote, "Everybody is happy that the champion will be crowned this year. If that's 2020 championship, then we want it."
00:27 In terms of whether or not there's an asterisk, Leonard says people will simply have to accept it for what it is. At this point,
00:32 it's not just the NBA season that's irregular this year. It's everything. Everyone in the entire country is experiencing an irregular year,
00:39 not just basketball. So no one knows when America's gonna get back to normal.
00:42 So for now, the irregularity is the new regular. "This is just not, this is just the layout this year," Leonard said. "Just pretty much stay focused.
00:49 It's not like a regular NBA season. Nobody's life is pretty much how they plan it to be at this point with the pandemic."
00:55 The player starts talking about this season having an asterisk or a gold star.
00:58 They're already making excuses about the season itself. At this point, everyone's in the bubble.
01:03 Everyone's in the same bizarre circumstances as everyone else. Some teams are missing players,
01:07 but teams miss players in a regular NBA season all the time. There has been a degree of randomness when it comes to winning an NBA championship.
01:12 2015, LeBron James had to face the Golden State Warriors without Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. In 2020,
01:18 every NBA team is playing in a pretty unique bubble situation.
01:22 Those are the cards that have been dealt, and Kawhi Leonard understands that, saying, "You take it for what it is."
01:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]