Kawhi Leonard’s knee injury is turning into a much longer problem for the Toronto Raptors than anyone first thought.
Leonard was originally expected to miss only about a week after swelling in his left knee forced him out of Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Raptors said Tuesday that tests showed no acute injury in the knee, but the latest update points to a far more serious absence.
“Toronto Raptors star Kawhi Leonard (knee) is expected to be sidelined for at least 3-4 weeks, sources tell me,” Chris Haynes posted Thursday.
That timeline is a tough one for Toronto, which had been watching Leonard settle in and start to build chemistry with his new teammates. The two-time NBA champion now appears headed for a stretch that could keep him out for close to a month.
Leonard’s return to Toronto was one of the biggest storylines of the summer for a Raptors team trying to push back into championship conversations. The trade bringing him back from the LA Clippers was made official in mid-September after a lengthy delay tied to the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers for salary cap circumvention.
“The trade sending Kawhi Leonard from the LA Clippers to Toronto has been made official after a monthslong delay due to the NBA's investigation into the Clippers for salary cap circumvention. The teams initially agreed to the deal on June 30, but it was paused while the league investigated allegations the Clippers violated salary cap rules in signing Leonard as a free agent," ESPN's Shams Charania wrote.
Now Toronto is waiting again, this time for Leonard’s knee to calm down. Once he’s ready, the focus will shift back to helping the Raptors chase the kind of success that made his return such a major move in the first place.
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