The Toronto Raptors have released their game schedule for the 2026-27 NBA season, and it looks like it’ll be starting off with a bang. The Chicago Bulls, who defeated the Raptors in the play-in in 2023, are coming to Toronto to show the 6ix their new-look lineup.
That first match on October 21st will have Caleb Wilson, Norm Powell, and Josh Giddey come to Toronto to test their mettle. The homecoming for Norm Powell will be an opportunity for Chicago to attempt to restart their blazing hot beginning
to the season, as they had last year. Then, Toronto will hit the road for a game against the Wizards, getting a first look at what first overall pick AJ Dybantsa can do. Overall, our season begins with some opportunities to check out new-look teams with a trifecta of Chicago, Washington, and Minnesota, with the opportunity to pick up some easy wins against Orlando, who we play twice in October. November boasts a much harder schedule, with may premier teams from both East and West on the docket, with December looking not much lighter until its end. February and March are the beginning of some less stressful matches, as well as an exciting back-to-back on the road against Miami, where we’ll get to really see how well Giannis fares in South Beach.
The Raptors will get a nine day home stand in January, while road tripping for eleven days in March. With the Raptors playing their divisional opponents the most contention with the monstrous lineups in Philadelphia and New York start early, with three games back to back against the two teams in November, with the rest of the matches spread out through the year. Toronto’s last game will be the same as last year’s, a matchup against the Brooklyn Nets on April 11th, what will hopefully be a nice way to ease into the postseason. The NBA Cup will see four games played against Orlando on October 30th, Milwaukee on November 6th, Detroit on November 20th, and Brooklyn on November 27th. All together, a very manageable roster in my opinion, a perspective shared by our Editor-In-Chief, Kristian Cuaresma.
I agree wholeheartedly that Kawhi’s presence would be the nail in the coffin for most of these teams, but that even without him, we proved to be able to manage all of these teams last year, winning every season series save for the one against Detroit. However, with Jalen Duren likely off the team, Motor City is looking much more manageable, and I believe we’ll be real contenders in the Cup this year.
The picture of the 2026-27 season is still up in the air for the Raptors due to the Kawhi Leonard debacle and the league’s sloppy and overly secretive handling of the investigation, which has left Raptors fans grasping at whispers and rumours rather than able to make full assessment of the team’s circumstances. Many NBA teams have gotten considerably better this past year, through massive trades, free agency, and last year’s stacked draft. That means that the Raptors will just have to push even harder, and hopefully, secure Leonard’s play for this season, as he’ll be a weapon I don’t think we can afford to leave at the gunshop if we want any chance of contending this year. While it’s difficult to say what exactly the Raptors will look like at this standpoint, building around Scottie Barnes has been working thus far, and with the right pieces, I can see the regular season schedule mattering little enough, as fans can shift their focus to the playoffs with certainty.
