Breaking Down The Raptors 2025-2026 NBA Schedule

Breaking Down The Raptors 2025-2026 NBA Schedule

The Toronto Raptor schedule for the 202526 season has been released. And for a team coming off a 30 win campaign, but with plenty of internal and external expectations, it’s the first step in figuring out what the year may look like. Now, it’s no secret that there is no consensus opinion on these Raptors from those who believe the Dinos may smash the over and be a top six team in the East and others who think this squad is all in on nothing. So, let’s see if we can figure some stuff out by gleaning through the Raptor schedule for the next season. But before we get into it, I’m Zophie Shake here with Raptors Republic. Please be sure to like this video and subscribe to the Raptors Republic YouTube channel so you’re not missing out on any of the content as we inch closer to the NBA regular season starting. But that being said, let’s get into it. Now, let’s start with some schedule highlights. But if you are looking for the full thing, I did tweet it out and we’ll link it down in the description. So, be sure to check that out. Now, starting with the Raptors, we’re obviously going to look at opening night. And the Raptors begin the 2526 season against the Atlanta Hawks on the road. And for those wondering, it’s just the seventh time in franchise history that the Raptors have opened their season on the road. And the first time since 2011, obviously not counting the the the Tampa Tank year because of CO. And for the Raptors, it’ll be an interesting early test against an Atlanta Hawks team that I view similarly to Toronto. two teams that kind of meddled with mediocrity a little bit and then they’ve still kind of pushed their chips all in to be competitive in an Eastern Conference that has question marks. Atlanta again traded away some players. They brought in Dyson Daniels. They have a young guy in Jaylen Johnson who looks like he can pair really well and grow with Trey Young, but then they go ahead and trade for a guy like Christopheringis and they’re showing that they really don’t want to be a middle of the pack team. They want to go for it. And I think I commend the the Hawks in that in similar ways to what I commend the Raptors for kind of picking a direction and understanding where they want to move forward. But for the Raptors, it should be an interesting test against a team trying to be similarly competitive in that same group in the Eastern Conference, if you will, or in the same tier. And also opening the season on the road, I think, will be interesting for the Toronto Raptors because the first 10 out of their first 15 games will be on the road. It’s going to be a good test. This isn’t a team that necessarily was strong on the road last season and we all know that bench players tend to dip their production a little bit away from their home arenas. So, can these young role players step up? It’s going to be huge for what the outcome or I guess the long-term trajectory for the season is for the Toronto Raptors. So, if they can take care of business against Atlanta, it’s you don’t want to blow it out of proportion, but hopefully it’s it’s a barometer in some ways. It’s a tone setter and out of it’s going to be big to win early because their first 10 games, it’s a pretty tough way to start your season. If I list it out here, it’s at Atlanta, against Milwaukee, at Dallas, at San Antonio, against Houston, at Cleveland, Memphis, Milwaukee, at Atlanta, and then at Philadelphia. I truly don’t see any gimmies there. Obviously, in the NBA, you have to go out and play the games. There’s no guaranteed wins, but it’s not like you’re taking on a team like Utah, for instance, with with all due respect. You’re taking on some really tough teams in both conferences that have expectations for them. You can look at a team like Philadelphia even that obviously wasn’t great last year, but they’re a team when you have Joel Embiid healthy, Paul George and Tyrese Maxi there, Jared McCain, VJ Edgeham, there’s a lot of talent on that roster and you don’t really expect to win that game if they’re at full strength, even though you know the Raptors should have a chance in that. So, it’ll be interesting for how they start their season. They’re going to have to really set the tone by exceeding expectations in some ways, I think, on the road especially. So, for for them to go that way, I think there’s going to be a lot we’ll hopefully be able to learn from the Raptors and that. And again, it’ll be kind of a way to set the tone of how you view the rest of the season. Cuz if you come out of this at 500, I think for most people, it’s what you’ll expect. But if you start on a skid or you start on a win streak, well, that can change a lot of things because the rest of the season schedule will even out a little bit. So then from there, you can really seize that momentum one way or the other and see how it takes you. So I’ll be keeping an eye on that when it comes to Raptors. But again, opening night against the Atlanta Hawks on October 22nd. And then looking back at some of the other schedule highlights, the Raptors will then have their home opener just two days later against Milwaukee. It’s always nice to get the Bucks early in the season because obviously traveling into town, you never know with injury. So for fans of Giannis and Ted Kumbbo, you can actually see him in Toronto, it’s very likely he’ll play unless he goes through an injury in training camp or something. It’s a new looks Bucks team as well. You’ll have Miles Turner in the mix, Gary Tren Jr. back in town. So it’ll be good to see a competitive Bucks team. And again, it’s a tone setter thing, right? If you can face this team early, you don’t know what the Raptors will be able to do with that. You don’t know how much momentum you can gain one way or the other. But taking on Giannis and a healthy Bucks team, I think will be a great early test for the Raptors as well. And then the NBA Cup will begin for the Raptors, at least group play on Halloween against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Pretty tough first test for the Raptors to advance, which they haven’t done in NBA Cup, I guess, history to this point. It it they’ll have to more or less win out. If you lose a game, you can potentially still advance to the wild card. Point differential becomes a really big thing at that point and you’ll have to be really blowing out the teams that you do beat. So for the Raptors, it’s a bit it’s a bit tough sledding because you have Cleveland, but then you also face Atlanta. You face Washington, which a bit of a young scrappy team. So you never know how that’ll go. And then you end it against Indiana and Pascal Seakum. Obviously the Eastern Conference champions. So that’ll be a tough game as well. So, I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m going to bet on the Raptors to advance out of the group stage of the NBA Cup, but if they do, it’s going to be pretty damn impressive based on the competition that they’re playing. So, we’ll have to wait and see that. But again, it gets underway on October 31st. Now, if we’re looking at some of the other highlights, LeBron and Luca come to town on December 4th. I know some people may be thinking this is a Lakers bias and why, but at the end of the day, this is interesting for a couple reasons because we don’t know how many games LeBron has left in Toronto. Again, similar to Giannis, he doesn’t necessarily always play when the Lakers come to town. So, this being slightly earlier, I guess midway through the season, there’s a good chance that LeBron plays. He did play in Toronto last year as well. He had a really good game. He had 27 points, like 11 assists. And then for Luca Donuch, it’s also interesting because it’s the first game for Luca coming to Toronto as a member of the Lakers. Luca always plays well against the Raptors, especially in Toronto. Last year he put up a triple double of 30,3 and 11. Get some pretty cool highlights as well. So seeing Luca in a Lakers uniform with LeBron, it should be some box office stuff for them coming to Toronto. And hopefully the Raptors can make it a competitive game. And uh not for nothing, Brandon Ingram once upon a time was traded for LeBron James. So you never know, maybe there’s a bit of revenge on his mind. Maybe he still likes to relish in that matchup. I say that kind of hoping more than expecting. Uh, I think Brandon Ingram is like five and 13 against LeBron all time. So, obviously the record isn’t great, but who knows? New team, refresh mindset. Maybe it’s something where they’re kind of looking at it and penciling it a little bit. And then after that, obviously, we like to talk about homecoming. So, Jacus Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder are the champions, and Lud Dort, they will be coming to Toronto on February 24th. And uh the last game I wanted to highlight here, which I personally think is pretty interesting, it’s a road game when Brandon Ingram heads back to New Orleans with the Raptors to take on his former squad. That is a little ways away. It’s not until March 11th, but it should be fun. Again, you’re facing your former team. Brandon Ingram doesn’t seem like the type of guy necessarily to have that energy of like, I want to prove it to them. From all intents and purposes, it sounds like it was a bit of an amicable split. Like Brandon Ingram wanted a fresh start. the Pelicans got a bit of what they wanted in the assets and moving forward with not having to pay him. So, I wouldn’t necessarily say there’s any sour notes on either side, but still, it’s fun to face your old team, your old teammates, and talk a bit of trash. And I’m sure the Raptors will be motivated by that a little bit. So, we’ll see how that goes. But that pretty much does it for the schedule highlights. Again, just recapping here. Opening night October 22nd against the Hawks. Then you have your home opener against Milwaukee 2 days later. NBA Cup begins on Halloween. LeBron and Luca in town on in December. SGA comes back to town in February and then Brandon Ingram gets to take on his old team in March. Now, transitioning a little in our conversation about the Raptor schedule, I thought it’d be fun to look at some facts of the schedule. I know some people do enjoy these things. And starting with something that always catches attention is nationally televised game in the United States. And the Raptors only have two this season. They’ll take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in November on Peacock. And then on February 5th, they’re uh hosting the Chicago Bulls on Prime. And if you are wondering, I’m sure you can maybe tell, it is tied for the fewest US nationally televised games in the NBA. It’s the second year in a row the Raptors have been tied for the fewest. This year they’re tied with the Wizards, the Pelicans, the Nets, and the Jazz. And obviously, this isn’t necessarily a barometer of how good or bad a team is. Last year, the Hornets and the Jazz had more nally televised game than the Raptors. The Pistons were tied with Toronto for the fewest at four nationalally televised games and they obviously had a very resurgent season and they exceeded expectations. So, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this makes a team good or bad, but it does mean that in in the national media landscape, the perception of the Raptors isn’t all that high. There are some teams just based on market like the the Lakers or the Warriors that will always have a good amount of national TV games, but you look at the Houston Rockets, they really jumped up as one of the most popular national TV uh I guess markets this year. So, it does speak a bit to the impressions around the league, but more than anything, I think it does suck a little bit that the Raptors only have two in the sense that there’s a lot of question marks around this team. And the way you provide clarity is by being able to show audiences what you are as a team. So, like if people don’t know how the fit with Brandon Ingram and Scotty Barnes works or like what this team is going to look like moving forward, well, you only get to your answers by watching the team play and understanding whether it’s good or bad. And having two nationally televised games does make that tougher for audiences. and you don’t really get that clarity per se, but also from a recognition standpoint, it gets a bit tougher as well. Obviously, these games will be broadcasted throughout Canada and they will be seen, but audiences in the US do matter for when it come when it comes to awards and media analysts and stuff like that. So, when it’s if you’re looking at all defense selection for Scotty Barnes, all rookie team for Colin Murray Boils, or even all-star nods, whether it’s Brandon Ingram, Scotty Barnes, even Manuel Quickley or whoever else is trying to be an all-star this year, it gets that much more difficult when you don’t have that exposure. But all that to say, if the team is good and you’re winning games and exceeding expectations, you will get attention. If a team is able to string together a good amount of wins, if you’re one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, and again, like doing better than maybe some large market analysts like mainstream analysts were saying you were going to do, they’re going to have to start paying attention one way or the other. So, it is unfortunate the Raptors will only be on two nationally televised games in the United States, but it’s also in their hands to kind of buck that trend a little bit. And if they do win games, they can they it won’t matter as much. So, we’ll have to we’ll have to wait and see, but it it is in their control for the most part. Some other, I guess, facts I wanted to to go over for the Raptor schedule, looking back at it here, is their longest road trip will be five games. It happens three times. The West Coast road trip that people kind of know for the Raptors happens every season. They go out west for quite a couple games. It’s happening from January 18th to the 25th. It’s against the Lakers, Warriors, Kings, Blazers, and Thunder. And uh I will also note no 11:00 p.m. games. I know some people have mentioned online how with the new broadcast schedule for the NBA day that’s been announced, they’ve experimented with some different start times. So some games as early as 5 or 6 and some games as late as 11:00 p.m. Thankfully, for East Coast fans who are watching the Raptors, no 11 p.m. starts from what I gleaned through the schedule. So you won’t lose that extra hour of sleep for 10 p.m. start times, which is pretty nice. So hopefully the Raptors can Raptors creates a nice fun easy game and you can get to bed with some extra sleep in mind. And uh besides that, the Raptors again uh their home stand if you’re looking at it similar to the road trips. Five is the longest stretch of games the Raptors will play at home. They’ll do it twice. Uh number of backto-backs. This is always important because again it can make a difference for a team schedule. 11. I’m pretty sure that’s kind of near the middle of the pack in the NBA. I believe Philadelphia of all teams has the most backtobacks or is tied for the most backto-backs with 18. So the Raptors kind of got a bit lucky there. And then the most popular game day for the Toronto Raptors this year is a Sunday. They will play 19 games out of their 82 on a Sunday. And that kind of reminds me, if you look at the full schedule right now, there’s only 80 games listed. As a reminder, that’s because the two games that get, I guess, rejigged because of NBA group play and schedule changes don’t get announced till later on. So, for right now, it’s only 80 games on the schedule, but the Raptors will in fact play 82 games. I know that was a lot of information, but hopefully it did make a bit of sense. Hopefully, I was able to provide a bit of insight. But let me know down in the comments below, what do you make of the Raptors heading into this season now that we’ve seen the schedule? Now that we know how the first like 10 15 games look, especially lot on the road, now that we know how their road trips break down, do the Raptors have a good shot and pathway to be a competitive team in the Eastern Conference. Or is it going to be similar to last season where some of these stretches will just be a little too tough for them to overcome? And obviously, let me know your predictions. Let me know down below what you think this Raptors team is going to do. Believe the over underline is set somewhere around 35 and a half for the Raptors. I’ve seen some places as high as 37 1/2. This is a 30- win team that has expectations to win internally. Again, they are trying to be better. They’re trying to be competitive in the Eastern Conference. So, let me know down below. Do you think this team is going to be able to hit the over on that? Do you think they reach what is it 40, 45 wins? Whatever you have, let me know down below what your number is and why. But if you did appreciate and like this video, again, please be sure to subscribe to the Raptors public YouTube channel to get more instant analysis like this and content covering the Raptors heading into the season. But with that being said, my name is again Zophie Shake. Thank you for taking the time. I will see you later. Peace.

The Toronto Raptors 2025-26 schedule has been released, and for a team with plenty of expectations, it’s the first step in figuring some stuff out.

Full schedule: https://x.com/zulfi_sheikh/status/1956072628739011013

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