That didn’t take long. Hopefully it won’t last.
There was never a moment that trading for Kawhi Leonard didn’t come packed with risk with regard to his ability to provide value for the $165 million the Toronto Raptors will be paying him the next three seasons now that he's 35 years old and in his 15th season.
The concern wasn’t what he would do when he played: he’s just six months removed from putting the finishing touches on what was arguably the best season in NBA history for a player aged 34 or older.
But how often can he play? Can he get through three regular seasons without missing significant swaths of them? If he does manage the regular season, will he have enough gas in the tank to get through multiple playoff rounds, something he struggled to do with the Los Angeles Clippers?
Those concerns were going to surface at some point. Injuries and the need to manage them are a fact of Leonard’s career. So maybe it’s best that it’s out here now, less than a week into the regular season.
After a slow buildup through training camp, just 39 minutes of game action in pre-season and limited minutes and fairly uninspiring performances in two regular-season games — he averaged 19.5 points per game on 32.5 per cent shooting — Leonard was ruled out just an hour before Sunday night’s game with the Minnesota Timberwolves due to swelling in his left knee.
How serious is it? It’s hard to know, but you would have to be encouraged that he practised on Saturday in Washington after playing 28 minutes in the Raptors' win over the Wizards on Friday. He also went through his normal pre-game shooting routine on Sunday with everyone expecting him to play.
Until he didn’t.
Still, given his history with the Raptors medical staff — the same group that helped Leonard to a stellar 60-game regular season and 24-game run through the playoffs in 2018-19 after injuries limited him to nine games the previous season in San Antonio — you have to hope that sitting Leonard out was done preventatively rather than due to a more acute problem.
Optimistically, while Leonard has had myriad issues with his right knee since he left the Raptors after the 2019 championship run — including a pair of surgeries — his left knee has been mostly problem-free since early in his career.
We’ll just have to see. If Leonard is out for any extended time or even a week, the concern is that it will take him that much longer to get up to the all-NBA standard he played at last season.
The hope is that this is just part of the deal when it comes to Leonard, where caution has always been the wiser path.
If it’s something else or the precursor to an ongoing issue, the flip side of life with Leonard — who played 65 games last season but hasn’t played consecutive 60-game seasons in a decade — will become part of the Raptors' reality sooner than anyone expected.
On to takeaways from the Raptors' 117-94 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves (3-0), which dropped Toronto to 2-1.
Same as the old Raptors?
One of the most important considerations when the Raptors acquired Leonard was that he was joining a group ready to compete at the highest levels the NBA has to offer. There was a good team here and Leonard would amplify it. But there is still some proof of concept required.
When Leonard joined the Raptors in 2018, he was adding to a 59-win team that had won four playoff series the previous three seasons. In 2018-19, the Raptors famously went 17-5 in games Leonard didn’t play.
This version of the Raptors won 46 games last season, and the team hasn't won a playoff series since 2020.
Most concerning, the Raptors were 2-22 against the top six teams in the West and top three in the East last season — the upper echelon of the league. Presuming he plays 60 games this year, a fair question was how this group would handle quality competition without him? Well, the early returns are nightmare fuel.
Against a deep, talented and energized Timberwolves team, the Raptors were overmatched, much like last season. They had some moments in the first half and were able to go into the break trailing by eight after falling behind by 17 early in the second quarter, but completely fell apart in the third, getting outscored 35-15.
It was a greatest hits of Raptors flaws: they shot just 10-of-38 from three, had no answer for the Wolves' big, athletic backcourt and, other than some success chasing their own misses on the offensive glass (the Raptors had a 9-3 edge in the first half), were crushed on the boards overall. Minnesota had a 39-22 edge in rebounding through the first three quarters.
A healthy season from Leonard should be able to lift the Raptors, but they’re going to have to do their share of heavy lifting in the games he’s out to make it worthwhile.
Where was Barnes?
There is no question about Scottie Barnes’ ceiling. There have been many examples where he has been the best defender on the floor for both teams and plenty when he’s been the best offensive player (for example, 28 points, 14 rebounds and five assists against Washington on Friday) and lots when he’s been both.
Sunday night wasn’t one of those. Barnes was a career-worst 0-of-12 from the field with three turnovers and a team-worst -27 in 27 minutes. He didn't finish with a single point.
Barnes has been shut out once before in his career, but he was only 0-for-7 when he went scoreless against Charlotte in April 2023. He did make four steals Sunday, but on a night when the Raptors were looking for him to lead, Barnes couldn’t find the water from a boat.
It happens with Barnes sometimes. Last season after the all-star break, he averaged just 15.6 points a game and failed to show up in losses to Boston, Detroit and the Clippers, where he scored a combined 24 points as the Raptors jockeyed for playoff position.
Barnes' ceiling is crucial to the Raptors' hopes, but his floor being higher is, too.
More of Barrett
There was a great sequence in the fourth quarter against Washington when Barnes and Leonard went to the bench and the Raptors increased their lead as RJ Barrett took charge of the offence, scoring a couple of big hoops on his way to 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
“You know me, I’m there when you need me,” Barrett said when asked about it.
That certainly seemed to be the case against the T-Wolves as Barrett scored 11 points on seven shots in the first quarter, nearly single-handedly keeping the Raptors in touch with the game.
In the second quarter, Immanuel Quickley chipped in with nine points, hitting all three of his triples, but after that the offence dried up.
Barrett finished with 20 points but was 4-of-14 after his hot start, and Quickley scored 19, with just five after halftime. When Leonard is out, both Barrett and Quickley will need to do more.
Tough homecoming
Jamison Battle is like Sisyphus pushing the rock when it comes to cracking the top nine in the Raptors rotation and staying there. He keeps his nose in with his uncanny ability to hit shots in limited minutes — he was 3-of-4 from three in 22 minutes over two games coming into Sunday — but then something happens and he’s back where he started.
With Leonard out and coming off a nice outing against the Wizards — Battle’s tough three at the end of the third quarter was one of the bigger plays of that game — Battle was the third substitution and saw the floor for the first time with nearly four minutes left in the first quarter.
It was doubtless a nice moment for the Minnesota native. But the vibes didn’t last as Battle finished 1-of-6 from the floor in 13 minutes and was torched defensively more than once.
A little Ball is plenty
Given LaMelo Ball’s penchant for high-volume shooting, questionable shot selection — 35.5 per cent shooting on 10.4 three-point attempts a game is a lot of long rebounds — high-risk passes and defensive lapses, I’ll believe that he represents the T-Wolves' missing piece in their championship potential when I see it.
But his talent for driving offence is undeniable. He was limited to just 17 minutes because he picked up four fouls, but even then he was arguably the main reason Minnesota won in a blowout.
Ball finished with 15 points, eight assists and two steals in his limited floor time. He almost single-handedly cracked the game open when he hit Jaden McDaniels and Joan Beringer for alley-oops from his own half and then danced his way to a difficult step-back three that pushed a 17-point lead to 26 in the space of a few minutes.
