Getting a Christmas Day game for the Toronto Raptors has been a popular topic of discussion of late, but perhaps fans should be rallying for more games on New Year’s Day instead, because those have certainly been going the Raptors’ way lately.
On Tuesday, Kawhi Leonard scored a career-high 45 points against the Utah Jazz, eclipsing his previous high of 41 points as a member of the Spurs. Strangely, this shares a commonality with the player that was traded for Kawhi, DeMar DeRozan, who achieved his career-high (and in fact a Raptors franchise best) 52 points on this same day exactly one year ago.
Imagine if Kawhi had been able to beat DeRozan’s franchise record as well. With the Raptors off to San Antonio for a game against the Spurs on Thursday, and their first in which they’ll see DeRozan on the side of the opponent, this will be an interesting week for fans to consider the trade’s aftermath.
For his part, DeRozan was deferential about the upcoming match-up — for now. After Thursday’s initial matchup between DeRozan and Kawhi, DeRozan will play his first game back in Toronto on February 22nd.
