Kawhi Leonard is moving in the right direction, and that’s the kind of update Toronto has been waiting for.
The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday that Leonard has successfully completed treatment for the left knee swelling that has kept him out for the past week or so. He’s now set to begin the return-to-play process in Toronto, with his progress to be checked again in one week.
That’s a notable shift from the earlier expectation that Leonard would miss 3 to 4 weeks, a timeline that would have pushed his absence into late November. Instead, this latest update opens the door for a much earlier return if everything continues to go well.
Toronto is still expected to handle him carefully. The team wants Leonard fully healthy when he does get back on the floor, and there’s no sense of rushing him through the process.
For now, the schedule likely keeps him out. The Raptors are on the road and will play the Denver Nuggets tomorrow night before heading to the Fiser Forum to face the Milwaukee Bucks in their second NBA Cup game on Friday. After that, they return home to meet the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night.
A fresh update in seven days could put Leonard in range for Toronto’s November 11 matchup against the Boston Celtics. That game is part of a back-to-back, and the Raptors would then travel to the City of Brotherly Love to face LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, and the Philadelphia 76ers.
Even with that possibility, it seems unlikely Leonard would suit up for both games in that stretch. One appearance, though, is very much on the table. There’s even a chance he could play in the second half on the road against Philadelphia, where he would run into former Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, the coach he won the 2019 NBA Finals with.
Until then, Toronto turns its attention to Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. ET at Ball Arena in Denver, with the game airing on TSN and streaming on the TSN Plus app.
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Gradey Dick Is Still Feeling The Raptors Trade Reality
Gradey Dick is still getting used to the strange new routine that comes with being traded away from Toronto and then seeing the Raptors across the floor again. In his second game against his former team since landing with the Los Angeles Clippers, Dick handled the matchup like a player still sorting through the emotional side of a move, even as he put together a solid night with 12 points in 28 minutes.
Afterward, Dick talked about the adjustment of facing old teammates and made clear the relationships remain friendly, which is often the quiet part of these trades that gets overlooked once the jerseys change. Brandon Ingram, another piece involved in the deal, was on the Clippers bench while recovering from injury, a reminder that the full impact of the trade is still unfolding for everyone involved. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors And Cavs Are Headed For A Pressure-Test Debate
The Raptors recent struggles without Kawhi Leonard have made the contrast with Cleveland hard to miss, especially as both teams are being judged less by their regular-season polish than by how they handle pressure. Toronto knows what it looks like when a roster loses its margin for error, and the Cavaliers are now facing their own version of that test, with blown leads and questions about toughness hanging over a group that can look sharp until the game starts to turn.
Evan Mobleys development sits right in the middle of that conversation, because Clevelands ceiling depends on whether its young core can absorb adversity instead of just surviving the easy stretches. The Cavaliers may still look like a team built to pile up wins over the long haul, but the bigger concern is whether that style holds up when the playoffs demand something closer to the Raptors old edge, where every possession gets heavier and every weakness gets exposed. [Read more 🡒]
Brandon Ingram Still Means Something To These Raptors
Brandon Ingram still carries a bit of unfinished business in Toronto, even years after he was sent to the Clippers as part of the Kawhi Leonard trade. Before the move, Ingram had put together a strong season with the Raptors, enough to leave a real impression on a fan base that watched him arrive as part of a blockbuster and then disappear before the story could fully settle.
Now the Clippers are off to a rough start, and Ingram still has not played for them because of heel surgery, which only adds another layer to a trade that already feels like it belongs to a different era. Toronto, meanwhile, is back in championship mode with Leonard on the roster again, but Ingram remains one of those names that still lingers in the background of the Raptors' present, a reminder of how much that deal shaped what came next. [Read more 🡒]