Scottie Barnes is looking forward to his on-court dynamic with Kawhi Leonard as the Toronto Raptors gear up for the 2026-27 NBA season. Barnes has been playing in the NBA since 2021, preparing for his sixth season with the Raptors.
The Toronto Raptors signed forward Tyson Degenhart on Monday and waived guard Andre Jackson Jr. in a corresponding move, bringing the Boise State product back into the organization after a season with Raptors 905.
The Toronto Raptors’ 2026 offseason comes down to three words: “worth the wait.” The Raptors have quietly built one of the NBA’s most tenacious defensive units.
While Kawhi Leonard didn’t play in the first game of the preseason, his return to Toronto has sparked serious feelings of nostalgia, memories of simpler times from seven years ago.
Kawhi Leonard was notably absent from the Toronto Raptors' preseason opener against the Miami Heat in Quebec City. His presence, or lack thereof, was definitely felt since the Heat played Bam Adebayo and Giannis Antetokounmpo in his debut with the team.
The regular season is important, but NBA legends are made in the playoffs. More specifically, it's the Finals where the all-time greats have built their otherworldly reputations.
Coach Darko Rajakovic says the Raptors are letting newcomer Kawhi Leonard get up to speed before putting him in a preseason game. But yes, the plan is for Leonard to play in one eventually.
Well, my earlier piece on the three players to watch was a total miss, since none of them played. But now that we have game footage, let’s talk about which Raptors impressed in the opener in Quebec City.
6 Foot 7 Foot by Lil Wayne was one of 2011’s hottest songs, but also seems to have served as the blueprint for Allen Graves’ growth spurt. The Raptors’ first round draft pick shot up from 6’0” to 6’7” over his first two summers in high school, and this massive bodily change, in part, brought him to professional basketball.
The Toronto Raptors just made one of the biggest trades in franchise history, bringing Kawhi Leonard back seven years after he delivered the only championship in team history.
The move to trade for Kawhi Leonard and immediately following up with a 2-year $115 million extension reads as a ‘win-now’ play.. At the age of thirty-five, Leonard has already gone on record saying he is ‘four or five years away’ from walking away from basketball.
Typically, the path to the NBA for most players is to spend at least a season in college to get high-level basketball and important development under their belts.
The Toronto Raptors felt like they had woke up from a hangover in their first pre-season game versus Giannis Antetokounmpo and the new-look Miami Heat.
The Centre Videotron in Quebec City finally was able to host its first NBA Canada Series game, a matchup between the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat. It didn’t go in the home team’s favour, as Toronto fell 129-105 to the heat.
The Miami Heat finally raised their ceiling to dangerous heights once again after acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo in a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Toronto Raptors were not satisfied with merely climbing back into the playoff picture, so they reunited with 2019 NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard.
There have been a number of questions around the Raptors fulfilling contract extension to those who are eligible. They already took care of their newly acquired star Kawhi Leonard with a 2-year, $115 million extension, while RJ Barrett remains in the balance with his contract discussions.
Toronto Raptors forward Collin Murray-Boyles is going into his second season in the league, where he could truly begin to make a name for himself in the NBA.
Raptors basketball is finally back, and they will kick off their preseason in an unusual place: Quebec City. It will be Kawhi’s second debut as a Toronto Raptor, and on the other side, Giannis Antetokounmpo will also debut for his new team, the Miami Heat.
It’s hard to believe we’ve finally made it through the summer and tonight, the first preseason game of 2026-2027 season tips off for the Toronto Raptors.
There is only one thing that the 2026 Raptors share in common with the championship team from 2019: Kawhi Leonard. The first to leave, yet the only one in Toronto today.
The Toronto Raptors are playing in the NBA's first preseason game of the year as they welcome the Miami Heat at Videotron Centre in Quebec City. The Raptors get an opportunity to visit their fans across Canada, and they'll do so while facing off against Giannis Antetokounmpo in his potential debut with the Heat.
Samson Folk does a deep dive on Jamal Shead. From yesterday: “The Toronto Raptors have Jamal Shead locked up on a deal that screams STEAL. Toronto and Shead have agreed to a three-year, $24 million extension, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports.
Having already made their huge move of the offseason by bringing Kawhi Leonard back, if the Toronto Raptors really want to turn this roster into the best in the East, I still think there’s one clear spot they can upgrade, and that’s center.
The Raptors apparently have seen enough from Jamal Shead to know they’d like him to stick around. Toronto and the third-year guard have agreed to a three-year, $24 million contract extension that will keep him under contract through the 2029-30 season, his agent KJ Smith told Shams Charania of ESPN.
Third-year guard Jamal Shead has reached an agreement with the Raptors on a veteran extension that will keep him under contract through the 2029/30 season, agent KJ Smith tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
RJ Barrett would be perfectly happy if Toronto were his final NBA stop. Whether the Raptors feel the same way remains to be seen. Barrett is entering the final season of his contract, worth about $29.6 million, and told reporters at Media Day that there haven’t been substantive talks about an extension.