Raptors are 4-3 and still waiting to learn what a Kawhi Leonard team looks like

Toronto is 4-3, and the split that matters is 2-3 without Kawhi Leonard. He has played two of the seven games and will miss at least three more, so a season plan built around him has barely been tested.

Two games is not a sample

The Raptors won both games Leonard played, which looks like proof of his value. It is thinner than that. He averaged 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in those two games while shooting 32.4% from the field. Those are the numbers of a star working his way back, not a player driving results. Toronto won with him on the floor, but the box score does not say he is the reason.

The 2-3 record without him is just as hard to read. Five games is a short run, and the team has still won two of them. A roster that can go .400 without its best player is one that can stay near the middle of the East. It also says the Raptors have not yet shown they can do more than that.

The timeline keeps moving

Leonard felt the knee in pregame warmups and was a late scratch against Minnesota on Oct. 25, his first missed game. The team said imaging showed no acute injury and set a one-week reevaluation. Chris Haynes then reported a absence of at least three to four weeks, and coach Darko Rajakovic said Leonard was being treated outside Toronto with no exact timeline.

On Nov. 3 the Raptors announced that Leonard had completed treatment for the left knee swelling and would start a return to play process in Toronto. The team will update his progress in one week. The AP and ESPN both point to Nov. 11 against Boston as the earliest possible return, which means Toronto plays Denver on Nov. 4 and at least two more games before then without him.

That is a better sign than another setback, but it is a process, not a return date. The Raptors have not said whether Haynes's window has changed.

What the East standing depends on

Toronto brought Leonard back this summer and agreed to a $115 million extension that runs through 2028-29 at his option. The team paid for a star who can anchor a playoff push. In the first weeks, that star has supplied two games and a swollen knee.

The practical read is that the Raptors should treat November as a stretch to bank wins with the group they have. Every game they win without Leonard lowers the pressure on a return date and on the minutes he plays when he does come back. A 2-3 mark without him would be a problem if the schedule stays this uneven. A .500 or better mark would let the team be patient.

The harder question comes after he is healthy. Leonard has missed time before, and the Toronto Sun noted that load management was always expected this season. This knee issue is separate from that plan, but it shows how much of the Raptors' ceiling sits on his availability. Until he strings together a run of games, the 4-3 record says little about where this team finishes.