With Kawhi Leonard in tow, Bobby Webster setting bar excessive for Raptors

Bobby Webster didn’t communicate the quiet half out loud, however he spoke volumes, regardless. 

In his first prolonged feedback since reacquiring Kawhi Leonard, the Toronto Raptors basic supervisor prevented any ‘championship or bust’ proclamations, however with coaching camp about to open, he acknowledged that the bar for the present roster is significantly increased than it was a yr in the past. 

“If I think back to last year, I sat here and I said, ‘the most important thing for this group (is) can we compete every night? Will we compete for 48 minutes?” Webster mentioned at a media convention on the Raptors observe facility Thursday morning. “And I felt comfortable (that) group had a lot of fight, and I think that’s probably what you saw play out over the course of the season.”

It labored out higher than most anticipated because the Raptors jumped from 30 wins in 2024-25 to 46 wins and a fifth seed within the East in 2025-26 earlier than falling to the favoured Cleveland Cavaliers in seven video games within the first spherical of the playoffs.  

But then this previous summer season Webster acquired Leonard, a 35-year-old coming off an all-NBA season and a participant who will ceaselessly be acknowledged in Toronto because the driving pressure behind the crew’s 2019 NBA championship. 

Webster didn’t need to put a selected label on the targets or expectations for a crew whose most completed participant is now in his mid-30s and whose projected beginning lineup takes up 105 per cent of the wage cap. But he allowed that sure, they’re significantly increased, as they need to be.  

“I think the expectation this year is, you know, can we win every night? Does this group go into every night thinking that we’re the better team? (That) we have a chance to win this game,” Webster mentioned. “And so I think that’s sort of how I view this group, which is they’re going to be competitive, they’re going to fight, and now they have the belief that they’ll win.”

He added that if the Raptors must bolster their lineup even additional, that’s an possibility as properly. 

“I think we have a first-round pick in each of the next four years. That’s probably important to note …  if we want to go for it, we still can go for it,” Webster mentioned. “Maybe that is the excellence — (this was) only a little bit of a swing — however there’s positively extra left on the bone.”

But Webster cautioned in opposition to a straight-line comparability to the final time Leonard joined the Raptors, when he was acquired from the San Antonio Spurs. 

That transfer was dangerous as a result of Leonard had solely performed 9 video games attributable to damage the season earlier than and had a transparent desire to return to Southern California as quickly as attainable. There have been considerations about whether or not Leonard would even report back to Toronto. There was a one-and-done really feel to all the endeavor.  

But the whole lot labored out completely as Leonard was the perfect piece so as to add to a veteran, perennial playoff crew making an attempt to recover from the hump. He performed among the greatest basketball of his profession; the Raptors have been in a position to maintain a championship parade after which — as anticipated — Leonard signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in free company. 

Seven years later, there are similarities — primarily that Webster pulled off a considerably dangerous commerce to convey Leonard to Toronto, this time from the Clippers — but additionally vital variations. 

This model of the Raptors continues to be a comparatively younger crew early on its upward trajectory. And now Leonard is coming right here by selection, relatively than in opposition to his needs, and maybe pleased to flee the Clippers after his seven seasons there led to unmet expectations and controversy.

And whereas he simply turned 35 and is beginning his 15^th season, the plan is that the Raptors with Leonard within the fold will get multiple probability to see how far he can take them, with Raptors two-time all-star Scottie Barnes doing his share of the heavy lifting as properly. 

“I think the biggest thing when we first agreed to the trade, in speaking to Kawhi’s rep, is he didn’t want this to be a short-term thing,” Webster mentioned of Leonard signing a two-year, $115 million extension Wednesday that takes him by the 2028-29 season. “He wanted to stay here for a while, and I think that’s probably what people hopefully took away from the extension was we want to have a window here, whether it’s two years, three years or beyond that, where we’re able to compete (and) put together a team that is worthy of competing for a title, and I think that’s sort of the goal.”

Plenty of issues should go proper for that even to be a chance. Perhaps the most important variable amongst them is Leonard’s well being. The veteran has missed 44 per cent of his crew’s video games over the past 9 seasons attributable to damage. But he’s coming off a 65-game season, and Webster is hopeful that’s a development, relatively than an exception. 

Leonard had performed simply 9 video games the season earlier than the Raptors acquired him in 2018, however with a cautious protocol of relaxation and restoration — which grew to become referred to as ‘load management’ — Leonard performed 60 video games within the common season for Toronto and led the NBA in minutes performed through the post-season. 

Even although Leonard is eight years older now, Webster believes his damage danger could be correctly managed, although he didn’t need to speculate on whether or not or not ‘load management’ was going to be a part of Leonard’s protocol this time round. 

Webster allowed that the continued presence of Alex McKechnie, the Raptors vice-president of participant well being and efficiency, needs to be a bonus the Raptors have, on condition that he was instrumental in conserving Leonard wholesome in 2018-19. 

“I think there’s going to be so many times where we’re going to be tempted to sort of compare this to 2019,” Webster mentioned. “I believe most likely we have to focus primarily on shifting ahead, however I do assume it’s an fascinating distinction: by and enormous, (Leonard) was wholesome final yr. Obviously, the purpose is to maintain him wholesome, however it’s additionally solely September 24^th, so I believe as we transfer ahead, we’ll have a greater sense. But I believe the most important factor is he is coming off a wholesome season.

“… I think Kawhi’s health — like any player — we’re going to have an extra eye, an extra hand in looking after him, and so Alex is huge in that respect.”

Leonard’s well being will be the largest single variable in whether or not the efforts made to commerce for him a second time repay or not. 

But even when Webster tried to draw back from any speak of banners or particular targets he has for a newly configured crew that has thrust itself into dialog as a contender within the Eastern Conference, the conclusions are self-evident: Last season the Raptors have been anticipated to be aggressive. This yr they’re anticipated to win.