Kawhi Leonard Admits to Unfavorable Conditioning Ahead of Season Opener

NBA regular season basketball is officially just one day away, and it’s set to be yet another year of elite competition at the top. Parity has never been a staple of professional sports, as dynasties have developed at some point in nearly every decade, but history continues to be made with every new season. There have been eight different champions in the last eight seasons, and it is certainly not out of the question to see a ninth new winner in 2027. 

Seven-time All-Star Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors are hoping to break that streak. The 2019 Finals MVP led the franchise to its first-ever championship in the first year of this stretch, and now that he has been traded back to Canada, he’s looking to make it the first team to win two championships in the last nine years. He’s in a very different situation with the Raptors this time around: Toronto is led by new head of basketball operations Bobby Webster, head coach Darko Rajakovic, and superstar Scottie Barnes. 

The lack of playoff experience surrounding this young group was a noticeable roadblock in 2026. However, after losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a seven-game first-round series, the entire organization has gotten a taste of success and is yearning for more. What better way to chase a deep playoff run than with the man who led the way the first time?

Through the investigation involving Leonard and his former team, the Los Angeles Clippers, the trade was stalled for months, leaving the superstar in limbo for quite some time. As a result, he wasn’t active in on-court training with either franchise, pushing his ramp-up much later than he would like. As the Raptors get set for their season opener against the Chicago Bulls Wednesday night at 7:30 PM EST, the former No. 15 pick in the 2011 NBA draft gave an honest answer about his conditioning after two preseason appearances. 

“It’s still a grind,” said Leonard. “It’s going to be game one. You’re not in midseason mode, so it’s just about, like I was saying, repetition. Stepping on the floor, playing games, chasing other opponents, not yourself, not your teammates. So it’s all the conditioning and mental, physical mindset that you got to approach every day.”

Many critics of the trade to reacquire the two-time DPOY pointed to his lack of durability throughout his seven-year tenure in LA. He played more than 57 games in a season just twice, including sitting out the entire 2021-22 season. However, last season he played 65 games and averaged a career-high 27.9 points per game en route to a second-team All-NBA selection. The Raptors have been slow to integrate him into practices and then preseason games, but he should be a full go to begin the regular season. It’s unclear how Rajakovic and Toronto will manage his workload throughout the year to prepare him for the postseason, but at 35 years old, it should be expected that some sort of plan will be in place to have him as fresh as possible.