Kawhi Leonard's Raptors Reboot Could Deliver His Best Fantasy Season Yet

Kawhi Leonard is 35 years old, heading into his 15th season, and somehow the case for a career year keeps writing itself. The seven-time All-Star played 65 games in 2025-26 — his heaviest workload since suiting up for 68 in 2023-24 and his third-highest total since 2016-17. That's the number that matters most for fantasy managers: Leonard on the floor is elite, Leonard on the shelf is a wasted roster spot.

The durability story has a new wrinkle. Leonard, long the league's most reclusive star, has suddenly become chatty and visible — likely a deliberate brand push. Read into that whatever you want, but a player invested in his image tends to be a player invested in showing up. He hasn't stacked back-to-back 60-game seasons since 2015-17, the years that announced his arrival as a superstar. Doing it again would quietly reset his fantasy floor.

Why Toronto Fits

The Raptors' scheme lines up nicely with what's left of Leonard's game. Head coach Darko Rajakovic can lean on him as an off-ball disruptor rather than asking him to chase the opponent's top threat all night. Toronto ranked fourth in the league in deflections last season at 20.4 per game, and Leonard's steal numbers should climb from the 1.9 per game he posted in his final Clippers year. He's cleared two steals a night only twice in his career, last in 2018-19 — this is the environment to get back there.

There's an assist angle too. Leonard has never averaged 25 points and 5 assists in the same season; he came closest in the two years before his 2021-22 ACL wipeout. Toronto finished third in assists last year at 29.5 per game, and with defenses scrambling to switch off Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles, Leonard should see more on-ball reps. He may not crack the scoring top five, but a line that barely clears 25 points with a bump in dimes is very much in play.

The Fantasy Fallout

The supporting cast tells you how the touches shake out. Barnes carries our No. 20 overall rank (No. 7 at position) after averaging 42.1 fantasy points per game in 2025-26, though he cooled recently — down 4.3 fantasy points across his last five games. Brandon Ingram sits at No. 48 overall with 35.9 fantasy points per game last season and is trending up, +3.1 over his last five. That's a lot of usage to share, which is precisely why a healthy Leonard soaking up on-ball reps changes the math for everyone.

The verdict: buy low on Leonard where you can. The role, the scheme fit and the games-played trend all point to a strong season, and his draft-day cost is still discounted by years of injury scars. He's not a set-and-forget cornerstone — build a contingency plan — but if you can grab him below his ceiling, the upside is a top-tier line from a player nobody wants to fully trust. That gap is where value lives.