**TORONTO** — The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday that Kawhi Leonard has successfully completed treatment for swelling in his left knee and is now ready to begin the next phase of his recovery: preparing to prepare to return to basketball.
The development represents genuinely encouraging news for the two-time Finals MVP, who has appeared in just two games this season.
Unfortunately, the announcement also confirmed that Leonard has entered something called the “return-to-play process,” suggesting that returning to basketball is no longer an activity but a complicated administrative procedure requiring multiple departments and potentially a notary.
Leonard has missed Toronto's last five games after experiencing knee swelling before an October 25 matchup against Minnesota.
The Raptors confirmed that he will miss at least three more games and that another update will be provided next week.
This means Leonard has successfully completed the treatment phase, entered the return phase, and is now working toward the eventual possibility of approaching the playing phase.
Team officials are reportedly optimistic that the process will soon progress to a point where they can begin discussing the next process.
Before his absence, Leonard averaged 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in two appearances, demonstrating that when he actually plays basketball, he remains extremely good at it.
Medical staff deserve credit for successfully addressing the swelling, although fans remain uncertain how many additional procedural stages separate a healthy knee from an NBA box score.
Leonard is reportedly making encouraging progress.
The Raptors expect to provide another update next week, at which point fans will learn whether the process of returning to the process is proceeding according to process.
