What happened
At Raptors Media Day, Kawhi Leonard said he can play off anybody, catch and shoot, and has handled limited-shot roles before, signaling he can share the floor with Scottie Barnes rather than dominate usage every night. That fits Toronto's plan to keep Barnes developing as a lead,
while Leonard can still tilt defenses and step in as the closer when the Raptors need a basket, especially after he returned on the heels of a 27.9-point season and All-NBA Second Team honors. The piece frames him as a late-game option rather than a nightly focal point.
This suggests Toronto can keep Barnes in a primary creation role while using Leonard to finish possessions in bigger moments. The exact workload split remains unknown until games begin, and Leonard's health/rest pattern will still shape how often that setup appears.
Automated brief based on the linked report. Lineup context is analysis; official starting-five labels come separately from our game data provider.
Original reporting: Kawhi Leonard doesn’t need to be the Raptors’ best player every night — Yahoo Sports ↗