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Sources: Raptors hiring Kawhi Leonard's longtime friend for coaching role

The Raptors are doing all they can to make Kawhi Leonard feel at home. (AP)
The Raptors are doing all they can to make Kawhi Leonard feel at home. (AP)

As the Toronto Raptors work to assimilate All-NBA star Kawhi Leonard, the franchise is hiring his longtime friend and former high school/college teammate Jeremy Castleberry from the San Antonio Spurs to be a player development coach, league sources told Yahoo Sports.

The Raptors acquired Leonard and Danny Green last month in a trade from the Spurs, sending a package centered around All-Star DeMar DeRozan to San Antonio. Leonard and Castleberry attended Martin Luther King High School in Riverdale, California, and San Diego State for two seasons.

The Spurs hired Castleberry for a role in the video room after he graduated from SDSU in 2013. Castleberry, 27, impressed Spurs officials in his stint with the franchise, working his way into an assistant video coordinator behind coach Gregg Popovich’s bench.

For Toronto, the hiring of Castleberry is a clear move to continue to welcome Leonard and build the proper structure around the 2014 Finals MVP.

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