The Toronto Raptors are opening their preseason with a cross-country tour that begins in Quebec City and ends in Detroit, and the schedule comes with a few built-in headlines before a single game is played.
Quebec City is the first stop, and it carries some history for the organization. That’s where the Raptors last held training camp in 2019, the same year they won their first and only NBA title. General manager and executive vice-president Bobby Webster pointed to that connection when the schedule was released.
“We have great memories of our 2019 training camp in Quebec City, and the opportunity to spend time in such a historic city, combined with the outstanding facilities at Université Laval, made returning an easy decision,” Raptors general manager and executive vice-president Bobby Webster said.
“We're looking forward to playing our first NBA Canada Game in Quebec City before returning to Vancouver, which has become a home away from home for our organization.”
The opener also brings one of the preseason’s biggest talking points. Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was traded from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Miami Heat this offseason, is set to make his first appearance with his new team against Toronto in the NBA Canada game in Quebec City. If he plays, that’s a major draw for fans there.
Toronto, meanwhile, gets its first chance to show what this group looks like ahead of the season. The game also marks the Raptors’ return to competitive action after being eliminated by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs, and it should give them an early chance to build some momentum.
From there, the schedule shifts to another matchup with plenty of attention attached to it. The Clippers and Raptors have been linked all offseason after a deal was agreed upon to send Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto, where he played in 2018-19. Brandon Ingram and Gradey Dick were sent to the Clippers in the deal, though an investigation into potential cap space circumvention could keep it from happening at all.
If the deal is still unresolved by Oct. 10, when the teams meet at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, the atmosphere figures to be uncomfortable. Toronto will either be trying to work Leonard into the mix during preseason or sorting out how to move forward with Ingram and Dick after they were included in the reported swap.
After Vancouver, the Raptors head back home for their first preseason game in Toronto three nights later against the defending champion New York Knicks. Jalen Brunson and the Knicks will get a chance to knock off some rust in a two-game set, with the teams then meeting again two nights later at Madison Square Garden.
The preseason wraps up the very next night in Detroit, where Toronto visits the Pistons at Little Caesars Arena. Because it’s the final game of the preseason and comes on the second night of a back-to-back, the starters are not expected to play.
That should open the door for the bottom of the roster to get extended run. Two-way guard Chucky Hepburn, rookie Jaden Bradley and rookie forward Allen Graves are all likely to see plenty of minutes, with Graves having been the 19th overall pick in the NBA draft out of Santa Clara.
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