Kawhi Leonard Suffered Foot Injury in Win vs. Suns; Considered Minor
Toronto Raptors small forward Kawhi Leonard left Friday's 107-98 win over the Phoenix Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena late in the fourth quarter because of a jammed foot.
Head coach Nick Nurse downplayed the severity of the injury. "He jammed his foot," Nurse said, per ESPN.com's Tim Bontemps. "It didn't seem to be too bad. They are still evaluating it. But we figured, end of the game, leave him out and let them evaluate it. But it's not an ankle, or anything. It's a jammed foot."
Leonard explained the injury, courtesy of Bontemps: "I just pushed off on it. Kind of rolled it, just pushing off. Just wanted to take a good look at it. ... We'll see how it goes. We'll talk [Saturday] and try to figure it out."
However minor, this is yet another injury concern for the 6'7", 230-pound forward. He has averaged just 57 regular-season games through the last six years, topping out at 74 in 2016-17. Of course, he was limited to just nine games last season because of a quad injury.
When healthy, Leonard is one of the best two-way players in the world. He's a two-time All-Star, a two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and the 2014 Finals MVP. Not only that, but he was only getting better with each passing season.
As a result, Leonard and the Raptors are thinking long-term in order to stay healthy and discussed their plan back-to-back games.
"The plan is for a little while here to not let him play [both halves of] the back-to-backs," Nurse said, per Bontemps. "I don't think we've decided how long that's gonna be yet. We're going game by game."
Leonard appears comfortable with the Raptors' plan, according to Bontemps: "I feel healthy now, and they just don't want to rush into things. I don't either. It's a long season, so we're thinking about the long road."
Prior to an injury-plagued 2017-18, Leonard's scoring average steadily increased all the way to a career-high 25.5 points per game in 2016-17. He also has career averages of 6.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game entering this season. And to top it all off, he has shot 49.5 percent from the floor and 38.6 percent from three-point range in his career.
Entering Friday night, Leonard was averaging 27.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.0 steals over his first six games in Toronto.
The Raptors will be off Saturday before the Raptors return to the floor Sunday at Staples Center against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Raptors also have a showdown against the Utah Jazz on tap Monday evening.
