Star forward Kawhi Leonard will be available to play on Tuesday, per head coach Darko Rajakovic, and will suit up for the Raptors for the first time since he helped secure the team’s first championship in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
“Yes, he went through practice today,” Rajakovic said on Monday (Twitter link via Zulfi Sheikh of Sportsnet.ca). “He’s feeling great. So yes, he’s going to be available for the game tomorrow.”
The Raptors have ramped up Leonard slowly during training camp and the preseason, so he sat out each of the team’s first two preseason games, including Saturday’s victory over his former team, the Clippers. While neither Leonard nor Brandon Ingram (Achilles) was active for that contest, former lottery pick Gradey Dick – the third player involved in that blockbuster offseason trade between L.A. and Toronto – logged 13 minutes against his old club.
As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes, Dick described it as “bittersweet” to see his former teammates and coaches after he spent the first three years of his NBA career with the Raptors. The fourth-year guard, who will be eligible for restricted free agency next summer if he doesn’t sign a rookie scale extension before next Monday’s deadline, is looking to prove he deserves a spot in Tyronn Lue’s rotation as he enters a contract year.
“He’s very athletic, very good cutter, very good in transition,” Lue said of Dick. “(But) then he just has to have confidence every night in his three-point shot, to be a 38-to-39 percent three-point shooter. He’s a good player, a good talent … I had a talk with him this summer about getting to 38 or 40 percent three-point shooter. … I think he can do it.”
We have more from around the East:
Former fifth overall pick Mario Hezonja is still readjusting to the length and athleticism of the NBA after spending the past six seasons in Europe, but the Cavaliers forward moving in the right direction by taking advantage of his physicality, writes Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required). In Sunday’s preseason win over Orlando, Hezonja had 13 points, five rebounds, two steals, and two blocks in 17 minutes of action. “It’s an adjustment. We’ve got to have empathy for that. It’s not going to happen overnight,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I think he’s just a good all-around basketball player, so I think it’s just defining, ‘Here’s how you’re going to fit with this team.’ It’s still observation. We saw a lot of great things in transition, him getting out on the break because he’s like a diesel train getting downhill.”
Peyton Watson wasn’t known as an elite defender during his time in Denver, but the Cavaliers wing is being tasked by his new team with handling the opponent’s biggest perimeter threat and he’s embracing that challenge so far this preseason, Fedor writes in another subscriber-only story for Cleveland.com. After going up against Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner on Sunday, Watson said he believes he can be “super elite” on the defensive end, adding, “You got the right man for the job.”
After tweaking his right ankle in his preseason debut last Wednesday, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton sat out Saturday’s game, but he was a full participant in Monday’s practice, writes Tony East of Circle City Spin. While it’s unclear whether Haliburton will play on Tuesday in Oklahoma City, it doesn’t sound like his availability for the start of the regular season is in any jeopardy.
In an interesting feature story for Sports Business Journal, Tom Friend looks at how Hornets co-owners Rick Schnall and Gabe Plotkin have managed the franchise since buying majority control from Michael Jordan in 2023.