DeMar DeRozan thinks Raptors would still have won title without Kawhi Leonard trade: ‘I have no doubt in my mind the same outcome would have happened’

During an appearance on First Take on Wednesday, host Stephen A. Smith noted that LeBron James had been Toronto’s “kryptonite” in previous postseasons and asked DeRozan if he thought he could’ve won a championship with the Raptors after James left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Los Angeles Lakers. “Yeah, never to discredit those guys––they won it, they deserve it. I finally had gotten to a point where I was happy for them. But for sure, I definitely feel like that. The only person we couldn’t beat was LeBron, that’s just what it was. And I felt, off the year we had before, we just needed one more piece to kind of push over the top, and that piece came to be LeBron going to the West. I didn’t get an opportunity to see what would’ve happened, but the utmost confidence within myself, I have no doubt in my mind the same outcome would have happened.”
Source: Sports Illustrated