That is the opinion of his Toronto Raptors team-mate Danny Green.
Green was part of the deal that sent Leonard to Canada with DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl going the other way to the San Antonio Spurs.
The blockbuster trade came after 27-year-old Leonard had made it clear to the Spurs that he wanted to return to his hometown of Los Angeles.
The Lakers, however, were unwilling to part with the amount of assets that San Antonio were demanding in return with the confidence that they will be able to get him without making any roster sacrifices in the summer of 2019.
Leonard was instead sent to Toronto and it has been widely suggested since that the two-time All-Star forward will spend only a single season north of the border, such is the strength of his desire to get back to L.A and play for the Lakers or the Clippers.
But Green believes two-time Defensive Player of the Year Leonard may be lured into staying with the Raptors.
Speaking on his Inside the Green Room podcast, Green said: “I don’t know where his mind is at for the future.
“I can’t predict or tell you. I can just tell you that the city of Toronto is gonna be hard to turn down after being there.
“I’ve been going every summer for the past 10-plus years. It’s a great city, and the fans are amazing.
“The last couple weeks, just going up for a couple days here and there and how they’ve shown me so much love.
“As a Raptor now, I’m so much more well known there and getting a great amount of feedback, a great amount of love and all types of different stuff from the fans.
“So it’s gonna be tough for him to turn down.”
Leonard appeared just nine times last season due to a quad injury – which ultimately led to the collapse of his relationship with the Spurs and his eventual desire to leave.
But the 2014 NBA Finals MVP is one of the top players in the league when fully healthy with Toronto making a huge sacrifice by trading away DeRozan in exchange for Leonard even knowing he might decline his player option to enter the free agency market next summer.
The Raptors were the first seed in the Eastern Conference last year with a franchise-best 57 regular season wins before crashing out in the Conference semi-finals as they were swept 4-0 by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
That tempted Toronto into switching up their roster, while James’ move to the Lakers opens up a greater opportunity for Nick Nurse’s side to seal a first ever Finals berth.
The Lakers have enough cap space for one max-contract star next summer with Golden State Warriors duo Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson also linked with a move to Staples Center.
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