Kawhi Leonard Starts Return-To-Play Process, And The Toronto Raptors Badly Need Him Back

Kawhi Leonard posing for the Toronto Raptors© Instagram/@kawhisklawset

Kawhi Leonard is finally moving in the right direction. After five straight games on the sideline, the Toronto Raptors announced on Tuesday that he has completed treatment on his swollen left knee and will now begin the return-to-play process in Toronto. There is still no return date, and another update is due in a week. For a 4-3 Raptors team that just pulled off a wild late comeback in Los Angeles, the news could hardly have come at a better time.

Leonard's knee and the road back

The team's statement was short. Leonard “will now begin the return to play process in Toronto, and his progress will be updated in one week.” That points to a check-in around Nov. 10, though it does not mean he will be cleared by then. An MRI showed no structural damage, but the swelling was real enough to keep him out, and Chris Haynes reported earlier that he could miss three to four weeks. The Raptors have not said whether that estimate still stands.

Skipping the Los Angeles trip made things awkward. Leonard stayed in Toronto while his team played the Lakers and then the Clippers, the club he left this summer. Some fans smelled a ploy, and one called it a way to dodge the boos. Nothing in the team's update backs that up. With an MRI showing a swollen knee that needed treatment, the simpler explanation is that he needed time.

The stakes are high. Toronto reacquired him from the Clippers in September and gave him a reported $115 million extension, so getting him healthy matters.

Expect him to sit a little longer. The Raptors visit Denver on Wednesday, go to Milwaukee for an NBA Cup game on Friday and host Memphis on Monday, and he is likely to miss all three. If all goes well, the earliest he could return is Nov. 11 against Boston, with a possible reunion with his old coach Nick Nurse in Philadelphia right after.

How the Raptors are holding up

Without Leonard, Toronto is 2-3, but Monday's 125-118 win at the Clippers showed what this group can do. The Raptors trailed for most of the night and, according to ESPN's analytics, had as little as a 2.5 per cent chance of winning in the fourth quarter. Then they closed on a 47-27 run to steal it. Scottie Barnes finished with 22 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, Immanuel Quickley scored 27 and RJ Barrett added 26. Barnes and Quickley alone combined for 29 of Toronto's 47 fourth-quarter points.

Barnes has carried much of the load lately. He is averaging 30 points over his last four games, and he set a career high of 41 against Orlando. Afterwards, coach Darko Rajakovic said the win meant something extra for Leonard. “He loves this team. He loves his teammates,” Rajakovic said.

Leonard's own numbers are modest so far, with 19.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals on 32.4 per cent shooting. Still, his effect on defence is hard to miss. Meanwhile, Jakob Poeltl is a game-time decision and Nate Bittle is out for at least two more weeks, so depth is thin. Until Leonard is back, the Raptors will keep leaning on Barnes, Quickley and Barrett to stay above .500.