Kawhi Leonard takes it slow into his Raptors return: two preseason games, 27 points and a Bulls opener

Kawhi Leonard will play his first regular-season game for the Toronto Raptors since the 2019 title run on Wednesday, October 21, against the Chicago Bulls, and he arrives after a deliberately light preseason: two appearances, 27 points and under 40 minutes of total floor time. The plan he described in camp was patience first, and Toronto followed it to the end.

“Being smart, taking it slow,” Leonard said early in October, after the first practice he finished in full since camp opened. At 35, starting his 15th NBA season, and with a long injury history behind him, he sat out the Raptors’ first two exhibition games, including the one against his former Clippers team in Vancouver.

YEAHHH KAWHI 👌 pic.twitter.com/ZIH0Zw3Qcm

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) October 13, 2026

One big night, one quiet one

When Leonard did play, the first outing looked like the old version. In a 148-98 rout of the New York Knicks in Toronto on Tuesday, October 13, he led all scorers with 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting, hit four threes, grabbed five rebounds and came up with two steals, all inside roughly 17 first-half minutes. He never returned after the break.

Afterward he talked less about his own numbers than about how the team plays. He said the system Darko Rajakovic is building rests on “defense and sharing the basketball, and that’s how I like to play,” and he credited his new teammates for making the move easy.

The rematch two nights later at Madison Square Garden was quieter. Leonard logged 22 minutes 34 seconds in a 122-120 loss, scoring six points on 2-of-5 shooting, missing both of his threes and making both free throws. He still added two steals and a block, and Toronto was plus-8 with him on the floor (Game Center). He then sat the preseason finale at Detroit on Friday, October 16, when the Raptors rested their regulars in a 129-125 loss.

What Toronto paid for

Across both games Leonard made 8 of 17 shots. The bigger reference point is the season he just finished with the Clippers: 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 65 games, with 62.9 percent true shooting and 1.9 steals a night, ninth in the league.

That production is why the Raptors sent Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected first-round picks, a first-round swap and two second-rounders to Los Angeles. The trade was agreed on June 30 but only became official in mid-September, after the league finished its salary-cap circumvention investigation into Leonard and the Clippers. Leonard has said the wait cost him the chance to work with his new teammates over the summer, which is part of why the staff has kept his workload modest since.

He has also been clear about his place in the room. In a club video released in September he said he was not coming to take over, and that if Toronto is Scottie Barnes’ team, it is Barnes’ team.

What comes next

The Raptors open at home against the Bulls on Wednesday, October 21, at 7:30 pm ET (Game Center). How many minutes Rajakovic gives Leonard on opening night, after a preseason built around caution, is the first thing to watch.