The Orlando Magic open their NBA Cup schedule looking to put a bad night behind them, and the matchup with the Toronto Raptors comes with plenty of familiar trouble spots.
Toronto’s edge in the first meeting showed up the hard way for Orlando. The Magic got a strong opening quarter, but the game swung once the Raptors turned up the pressure and forced turnovers. That disruption fed a fast break attack, and RJ Barrett’s electric first half helped Toronto stretch the margin.
Barrett has become a major factor in this rotation, and that role only grows when Kawhi Leonard is out. The expectation was always that Leonard would miss time at some point in the regular season, which would put Barrett in position for bigger minutes and bigger responsibility. What Toronto has gotten is steady production regardless of who is available, with Barrett looking capable of giving them a 20-point night on just about any evening.
The Raptors’ identity also makes life difficult for opposing offenses. They keep leaning into a defense-first roster build, and it shows in the way they guard multiple positions, stay active in their matchups and pressure the ball. Those stops create the transition chances that can break a game open in a hurry.
There is also a path for Orlando to make this tighter. Toronto may not repeat its best shooting performance of the season, when it hit 43 per cent from 3-point range against the Magic. If the Raptors cool off from deep and also run into early foul trouble again, that could narrow the gap between the teams.
Toronto enters as a 5.5-point favorite, but Orlando is being viewed as a team that can cover. Even so, there is still concern about Paolo Banchero’s effective field-goal percentage, which sits in the 15th percentile in the league, and the Magic’s key injuries make it tough to fully trust them. The prediction here is Raptors 117, Magic 112.
In Other News...
Former Raptors Guard Just Lost A Shot At An NBA Return
The Thunders injury news on Chet Holmgren has already reshaped their roster plans, and it briefly put Ochai Agbaji back in the conversation for an NBA landing spot. Oklahoma City had been preparing to sign the former Raptors guard, who has spent four seasons moving through multiple teams, before pivoting away from that move after learning Holmgren will miss at least two months with a small patellar tendon tear in his right knee.
Now the Thunder are shifting their focus to finding a center for the open roster spot, leaving Agbaji to keep searching for another opportunity. For Toronto fans, it is another reminder of how quickly the margins can change for a player trying to carve out a place in the league, with one door closing just as another teams needs suddenly opened elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors Get A Big Opening Against A Lakers Team Under Pressure
The Lakers arrive in Toronto carrying a little more urgency than they would like this early in the season. Their 112-95 loss to Golden State dropped them to 4-2, and now they have to turn around quickly against a Raptors team that will be missing Kawhi Leonard because of injury. Even with a few players still listed as questionable or ruled out, Los Angeles is getting closer to full health, which makes this a useful measuring stick for where the group stands.
For the Raptors, it is a chance to catch a talented opponent at a vulnerable moment and make the most of a favorable opening. For the Lakers, the bigger concern is avoiding a skid before a back-to-back set adds even more strain to the schedule. Toronto does not need to solve every issue in one night, but it does have an opportunity to test a team that is already feeling the pressure to respond. [Read more 🡒]
Raptors May Already Need More From Their New First-Round Pick
Allen Graves has already given the Raptors a glimpse of why they spent the 19th pick on him in the 2026 NBA draft. Through his first few games, the forward has flashed encouraging per-36-minute production across points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals, a useful early sign for a team that likes to build with length, defense and versatility.
What stands out most is how quickly Graves has fit the profile Toronto was targeting: a physical wing with defensive instincts and enough shooting touch to matter on the floor. With Kawhi Leonard expected to miss significant time, the Raptors may need that promise to turn into real rotation value sooner rather than later, even if the bigger payoff for Graves still feels like something that will unfold as the season goes on. [Read more 🡒]