Ahead of the Raptors Sunday night meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers, head coach Nick Nurse announced the team will be without Kawhi Leonard and that second-year forward OG Anunoby will start in his place.
Leonard's availability for Monday night's game against the Jazz is to be determined.
“He’s (Leonard) out... We’re gonna start OG in his place.” - Coach Nurse pic.twitter.com/bx8JhiwR0i
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) November 5, 2018
Leonard left the Raptors' 107-98 win over the Phoenix Suns with a "jammed foot," according to Nurse.
Nurse added after the game that he doesn't think the injury is serious, and Leonard was re-evaluated on Saturday.
Leonard doesn't seem to be too concerned with the injury either, telling reporters that he thinks it will be "all right" and that he just "wanted to get it looked at."
Kawhi on his foot: “I think it’s going to be all right, nothing major. I just pushed off on it and kind of rolled it and I wanted to get it looked at.”
— Mike Ganter (@Mike_Ganter) November 3, 2018
Leonard left Friday's game with 2:42 remaining in the fourth quarter. He appeared to hurt his foot going for an offensive rebound on this sequence:
Leonard played 29 minutes against the Suns and finished with a team-high 19 points.
Toronto's next game is on Sunday when they travel to Los Angeles to take on LeBron James and the Lakers. It will be the first half of a back-to-back, with the Utah Jazz on deck for Monday. Nurse told ESPN's Tim Bontemps that Leonard will continue to sit in one-half of back-to-backs.
"The plan is for a little while here to not let him play (both halves of) the back-to-backs," Nurse said. "I don't think we've decided how long that's gonna be yet. We're going game by game."
MORE: 5 takeaways from the Raptors' win vs. Suns
In sitting out Sunday, Leonard will miss his one and only game against the Lakers at Staples Center — a team he was rumoured to be interested in joining in the offseason.
Leonard could potentially miss both Raptors' Staples Center appearances sitting out due to rest as their game against the Clippers on Dec. 12 will be on the front end of a back-to-back with their game against the Warriors in Oakland the following night.