Kawhi’s knee swelled up again. The Raptors are already running last year’s play: hand the keys to Scottie Barnes and dare the East to beat that defense.
Haynes Headlines: Toronto Raptors star Kawhi Leonard (knee) is expected to be sidelined for at least 3-4 weeks, sources tell me. @NBATV pic.twitter.com/nlbZ0IKizP
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 29, 2026
Toronto’s seen this movie before. When the Kawhi trade sat frozen all summer, Barnes ran the show and the defense held the fort for months before Kawhi was ever cleared to play. This time it’s his knee doing the holding up instead of the league office, but the job for Barnes hasn’t changed one bit.
Before any of this, Toronto was 3-1 and fourth in the East with the NBA’s best defensive rating.
That identity got put through a blender fast. A 117-94 beatdown in Minnesota saw Barnes go 0-for-12 and look like he forgot how basketball works. Two nights later against Orlando he dropped 28 on 11-of-17 shooting and Toronto won by 30. Then he topped himself.
SCOTTIE BARNES HAS A CAREER-HIGH 40 PTS 🔥
The Raptors have a 1-point lead in Q4! pic.twitter.com/Xfg7yTaFRN
— NBA (@NBA) October 31, 2026
So the sample right now is one disaster, one blowout, and one night where he looked like a completely different guy. Three games don’t settle whether elite defense and a do-everything Barnes can survive a full month without somebody who closes out the ugly ones. Kawhi’s actual debut made this team look unbeatable three weeks ago. Now everybody gets to find out how much of that was him, and how much of it was Barnes and a defense that doesn’t take nights off.
