Raptors’ Kawhi Leonard makes worthwhile pre-season debut

TORONTO — You can never knock Darko Rajakovic for his enthusiasm. 

The Toronto Raptors head coach is perpetually caffeinated, in both the literal and figurative sense. 

So keep that in mind when he described his view on Kawhi Leonard finally putting on a Raptors uniform for the first time since he lifted the Finals MVP trophy over his head at Oracle Arena in June 2019. 

“It’s going to be super-important to get him with our guys on the court, to get him integrated and it’s very special that it’s happening here at home in front of our fans in Toronto and not some road game,” Rajakovic said before Leonard suited up Tuesday night for the third of the Raptors’ five exhibition games and the only one at Scotiabank Arena. “It’s a very special day for him. It’s a very special day for us. We’re super excited.” 

But in this instance, Rajakovic’s passion was properly placed. “Special” and “pre-season” normally don’t do well in the same sentence, but in this case it all fit.

Leonard’s debut — especially by pre-season standards — was absolutely exciting. The anticipation had been building. Leonard’s Raptors return has been something both the organization and the fan base were looking forward to since Toronto tried acquiring him from the Los Angeles Clippers on June 30, only to have to wait for more than two months for the trade to be completed pending an NBA investigation into salary cap circumvention by the Clippers on behalf of Leonard. 

The delay in the trade set back Leonard’s readiness for training camp, so he sat out Toronto’s first two pre-season games for “reconditioning” purposes. 

But the wait was finally over as Leonard took the floor at Scotiabank Arena as a Raptor for the first time since Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals.

And the wait was worth it — almost like the last seven years never happened and Leonard remembered not only where the home dressing room was but all of his passwords too.

“It feels good, just being out there and playing a different opponent was great,” said Leonard after leading the Raptors to a dominating 148-98 win over the New York Knicks, improving the Raptors’ pre-season record to 2-1 with road games against the Knicks and Detroit Pistons to round out their schedule before they host the Chicago Bulls next Wednesday in the season-opener. “The crowd was involved … we came in and got focused on defence, that was my intention. I wanted to get out there and get tired — I still want to get in better shape — but it was fun to play.”

When Leonard left the Raptors, he was the best two-way player in the sport with two NBA championships and two Finals MVPs to prove it. 

Now? At 35, he’s older and presumably wiser, while remaining a two-way force. His first highlight play in his second tour with Toronto? Digging in on Knicks point guard Jose Alvarado and pulling out the basketball with his massive claw-like grip. That ball got pushed ahead and ended up as a clean look by Leonard from three as a trailer in transition that he missed, but the tone was set.

“Defensively, oh my God, he looked amazing, the way he played today,” said Scottie Barnes (19 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals in 22 minutes), who should combine with Leonard and second-year forward Collin Murray-Boyles (19 points and nine rebounds on 7-of-7 shooting) to form one of the most fearsome and versatile defensive trios across the NBA. “Just being active, poking at the ball, physicality. It was amazing.”

Now, some important caveats: The roster the Knicks put on the floor bore no resemblance to the lineup that won an NBA championship in June and which thumped the Raptors five times in the regular season last year, each one more convincing than the last.

That’s because the Knicks played in New York on Monday night and left their starters home rather than play them on the second night of a back-to-back in pre-season.

So for all the good feels generated by the Raptors’ dominance and Leonard’s brilliance, it’s worth noting that almost no one they were competing against will be on the floor when the two teams meet in the regular season.

But in Leonard’s first live action since his Clippers lost during the Play-in Tournament in April, he at the very least looked every inch what the Raptors had when he was last here, and they very much hope they were getting, when they traded for him and signed him to a two-year $115 million contract extension that takes him through his age 37 season: one of the best players in the sport.

For his part, Leonard wasn’t easing into anything. 

He ended up playing 16 minutes — all in the first half — and was a game-bending presence for almost every second of them, ending up with 21 points on 12 shots (4-of-8 from three), along with five rebounds and two steals.

It’s a bit hyperbolic to say that the Raptors won Leonard’s minutes by 28 points only because of him, but it’s no stretch to argue that simply having Leonard on the floor made the rest of the Raptors better.

Leonard got his offence very much in the flow of the game. He was content to act as both a trailing outlet on some transition opportunities or sprint to the corner to serve as a hit-ahead target on others. He hit threes in both instances. He wasn’t just active when he thought he could get a steal — he threw himself into halfcourt traps in aid of his teammates like a rookie eager to impress.

“That’s how I like to play, that’s how I grew up to play in the NBA,” said Leonard. “A team game and just everybody really being involved on any given night.”

His teammates should benefit. Late in the first quarter, Barnes attacked the defence on an isolation play where the versatile Raptors star could really operate 1-on-1 without fear of a second defender as Leonard and Immanuel Quickley — on paper the Raptors’ two best three-point shooting threats — spotted up on the weak side of the floor where the Knicks were reluctant to play off them. Barnes scored easily. 

Defensively, Leonard predictably gave Rajakovic plenty of options to put a number of combinations on the floor that could switch almost every position and hound the ball at every turn. Late in the second quarter, Leonard and Barnes trapped the Knicks point guard at half and then Leonard switched out of that onto a Knicks forward before finally switching again and walling off the Knicks centre to allow Murray-Boyles an uncontested defensive rebound.

The 15-year veteran plays the game the right way, from his defensive presence to his willingness to balance the floor in transition, whether the ball is coming his way or not. Leonard is an exciting player because he can score with volume in the toughest situations, but it’s built on a foundation of fundamentals. 

“Whatever is needed from me,” he said. “That’s how I learned to play in the NBA. Running for others. If I’m above the ball and I’m able to sprint to the corner and the shot doesn’t come to me but just giving anybody a lane to drive for the basket … running for others and then yourself … I just want to help others and help my team and hopefully I’ll play a good game.”

It may not have been the NBA-champion Knicks the Raptors and Leonard dominated, but those principles should hold up against any competition.

1. Oh, yeah, that guy:  Normally, a first-round pick making his NBA debut would provide plenty of buzz for a pre-season game, but Allen Graves happened to take the floor for the first time on the same night that Leonard made his first appearance with the Raptors and got overshadowed a little bit. Graves’ debut had been pushed back by a minor groin injury, but he’d been generating plenty of excitement behind the scenes, on top of his impressive showing in Summer League. There are minutes available on the Raptors’ second unit, and the organization would like nothing better than if the versatile 20-year-old they took with the 19th pick out of Santa Clara could earn some of them.

He certainly showed flashes — his best play might have been following his own missed three and gaining control of the rebound enough to tap it back to hit Ja’Kobe Walter for a lay-up. A few moments later Walter found Graves for an open three that the rookie knocked down for his first (pre-season) NBA points. For the night, he finished with five points, four rebounds and a steal in 15 minutes of action. That he only made one three was less important than that he let seven of them fly, given that being able to take and make some threes will go a long way in helping Graves earn regular-season minutes. He did have four fouls, but Rajakovic liked that too: “I think he was great. He was aggressive on defence and I actually loved the fouls he picked up tonight.”

2. And that guy: This time a year ago Ochai Agbaji was being looked to by the Raptors as a possible rotation fixture, provided he could follow up on a promising 2024-25 season when he shot 39.9 per cent from three and showed a willingness to use his athletic six-foot-five frame as a solid wing defender. But a slow start last season, coupled with the emergence of Walter, saw the Raptors salary-dump Agbaji to Brooklyn mid-season. The Knicks — needing some cheap back-end rotation players — signed the former 14th pick in the 2022 draft to a non-guaranteed deal for training camp. “He’s pretty versatile,” said Knicks head coach Mike Brown. “He’s an NBA player, (but) it’s more about fit with a certain situation, whether it’s here or somewhere else.” Agbaji played 10 minutes and was 0-of-2 from the floor. 

3. Getting healthier: In addition to Leonard and Graves returning to live action, second-year wing Alijah Martin and back-up centre Trayce Jackson-Davis saw their first action of the pre-season.

Martin was out while recovering from an off-season knee injury, while Jackson-Davis missed time as the Raptors tried to figure out what was causing discomfort in the form of headaches and pain down the right side of his face. He took an elbow during training camp and he told me the problem eventually became sourced to an irritated nerve that ran along his jaw. No fun. Martin had an assist and three steals as highlights of his 12 minutes of work, while Jackson-Davis had nine points, three rebounds and a steal in his 10 minutes. Jamison Battle (back) is the only projected Raptors regular who has yet to see action so far.