A clean MRI, but no quick fix
Kawhi Leonard is going to be out for a while. Toronto’s forward is expected to miss a period of weeks because of swelling in his left knee, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Tuesday.
The MRI showed no structural damage. That is the part Raptors fans wanted to hear. Still, the swelling is real enough that the team is not rushing him back into the rotation.
Toronto confirmed the shutdown itself. According to beat reporter Doug Smith, Leonard will be out for at least a week and will go through a treatment and rehabilitation program aimed at the knee.
no renewal
Free for 2 weeks.
Why the Raptors are being careful
Charania’s sources frame the layoff as a short-term move. The idea is to use these weeks to ramp Leonard back up properly, after the stop-and-start stretches he went through during the offseason.
That fits what Toronto signed up for when it locked him in long term. The Raptors re-signed him over the summer, and the whole point of that deal is having him healthy when the games start to matter. A few weeks in late October is a cheap price if it keeps the knee quiet in the spring.
For now, the rotation has to find its footing without its most proven scorer. No return date has been set beyond that one-week minimum.
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