Coach Darko Rajakovic says the Raptors are letting newcomer Kawhi Leonard get up to speed before putting him in a preseason game. But yes, the plan is for Leonard to play in one eventually.
Leonard sat out the Raptors’ 129-105 loss to the Heat on Saturday. He likely will miss next Saturday’s exhibition against his former team, the Clippers, in Vancouver, too. After that? Well, maybe.
“I mean, we’ve got to have in mind the last time he played live against players was a (play-in tournament) game against Golden State last season,” Rajakovic said, via Michael Grange of Sportsnet. “He didn’t play any live at all this whole summer, and obviously when it was time to ramp up and play, the trade still had not gone through.”
That trade was held up while the NBA investigated the Clippers and Leonard for salary-cap circumvention. The league eventually penalized both, and Leonard returned to the team he helped lead to the 2019 championship. Toronto would prefer to see him ready when the games count.
“So we’re being super cautious just to build him up the right way,” Rajakovic said. “Hopefully at that point, we’re going to start including him in games after that.”
Call it reconditioning. Call it load management if you must. Given how little live work Leonard has had with this group, letting him have another week makes sense.
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