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Following a controversial summer that eventually saw him unceremoniously parting ways with the San Antonio Spurs, Kawhi Leonard recently made his highly-anticipated debut for the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.
The Raptors were up against the Portland Trail Blazers, and while Leonard did start the game for his team, there were some obvious signs that he had previously spent a good part of a year on the sidelines nursing an injury. Nick Nurse, the Raptors' new head coach, was quick to defend his superstar and admitted that some rust from Leonard was to be expected at this point in the preseason.
āI think everybody saw Kawhi was shaking off some rust but you can obviously see the level that he has,ā Nurse sai, via Jon Aspiri of Global News.
Nurse also hinted that the team's new cornerstone player was still in the process of acclimatizing himself to the system of his new team. Nonetheless, this did not hinder Leonard from showing glimpses of his reputable aggression.
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āHe was just playing off instincts a little bit and he saw some gaps and he took them and they came pretty hardā¦ and he bounced right back up.ā
While Leonard played only a little over 19 minutes in his debut, his first game in a Raptors uniform went as well as expected, all things considered. The former Finals MVP scored 12 points on 3-of-8 shooting, along with one rebound, three assists (tied as the team high), one steal, and zero turnovers. However, Leonard did go 0-of-4 from three-point territory and made only six of his 11 free-throw attempts.
The Raptors took the home victory against the Blazers with a final scoreline of 122-104.
