Toronto’s preseason will open on home soil in more ways than one. The Raptors will meet the Miami Heat on Oct. 3 at Videotron Centre in Québec City before carrying the Canada Series west for an Oct. 10 matchup with the LA Clippers at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, putting Kawhi Leonard’s Toronto return, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Heat debut and a remade Clippers group on the same October itinerary.
Key takeaways
- Raptors-Heat tips at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 3, the first NBA game ever scheduled for Québec City’s Videotron Centre.
- Toronto and the Clippers meet in Vancouver on Oct. 10 at 6:30 p.m. ET, or 3:30 p.m. local time.
- Leonard will play for the Raptors for the first time since winning 2019 Finals MVP and delivering the franchise’s first championship.
- Antetokounmpo is set to make his first preseason appearance for Miami after spending 13 seasons with Milwaukee.
- The 2026 event is Vancouver’s eighth Canada Series stop and the series’ first visit to Québec City.
Two stops, three teams and a loaded preseason slate
The Oct. 3 game will be the preseason opener for both Toronto and Miami. It will air on NBA TV, while both Canada Series contests will be available through NBA League Pass in Canada, the United States and more than 200 countries and territories across television and digital platforms.
Videotron Centre opened in 2015, but has not previously staged an NBA game. Vancouver, meanwhile, returns to its familiar Canada Series building. Rogers Arena has hosted each of the city’s seven earlier appearances: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2025.
The Canada Series began in 2012 and has brought 16 NBA clubs through 20 preseason games in six Canadian cities, drawing more than 350,000 fans. Limited tickets remain for both this year’s dates.
Toronto’s main storyline is obvious: Leonard is back in Raptors colors after the Sept. 14 trade with the Clippers. His previous game as a Raptor came June 13, 2019, when he capped Toronto’s title run by earning Finals MVP. The return comes 2,670 days after that night.
The Raptors finished fifth in the East last season, then lost a seven-game first-round series to Cleveland. Leonard now joins a core led by Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, giving the Canadian stops their first look at the new rotation before the regular season.
“I’m excited to be back,” Leonard said at Toronto media day. “The team was really good last season. I want to be in a winning situation, and I believe this gives me that.”
Leonard enters the year after a career-best 27.9 points per game, while bringing two Defensive Player of the Year awards to a Raptors group that expects him to set the tone at both ends.
Barrett called Leonard a Hall of Fame-level player and said the locker room believes the veteran remains capable of performing as the superstar he has been.
Giannis changes jerseys as Clippers turn the page
Québec City also will mark Antetokounmpo’s first preseason game in a Heat uniform. He arrives after a Milwaukee tenure that lasted 13 years and included 10 All-Star selections, nine All-NBA honors, two MVP awards, a Defensive Player of the Year trophy, a Most Improved Player award, the 2024 NBA Cup and its MVP, plus the 2021 championship and Finals MVP.
Antetokounmpo said the transition has required him to absorb a new defensive system, new offensive concepts, unfamiliar teammates and a different locker-room environment. Still, he framed the adjustment simply: the work will determine whether the group succeeds, and Miami’s target is a championship.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Miami did not acquire Antetokounmpo for a lesser role or a step backward. Spoelstra said the staff’s job is to put the forward in position to maximize his strengths, get him comfortable and keep him in the discussion among the league’s very best players.
The Clippers will arrive in Vancouver after opening their preseason against Golden State in Hawaii. LA’s roster has shifted sharply since it moved James Harden to Cleveland at last season’s trade deadline and sent Leonard to Toronto during the summer.
Two No. 5 overall picks will be worth tracking in the new Clippers setup: Darius Garland, selected fifth in 2019 and acquired in the Harden trade in February, and Keaton Wagler, the fifth pick in the 2026 Draft.
Garland said Wagler has been eager to learn, adding that their conversations have gone both ways because of their shared experience as high draft selections.
LA will not have Brandon Ingram in Vancouver. Ingram, obtained from Toronto in the Leonard deal, is recovering from heel surgery. The Clippers did add veteran help around the new backcourt, bringing in Rui Hachimura, Max Strus and Gradey Dick, each with recent playoff experience.
Canada Series results through the years
- 2012: Toronto beat New York 107-88 in Montreal on Oct. 19; Minnesota defeated Detroit 95-76 in Winnipeg on Oct. 24.
- 2013: Minnesota topped Boston 104-89 in Montreal on Oct. 20.
- 2014: Toronto beat Sacramento 99-94 in Vancouver on Oct. 5 and edged New York 83-80 in Montreal on Oct. 24.
- 2015: Toronto beat the Clippers 93-73 in Vancouver; Chicago defeated Minnesota 114-105 in Winnipeg; Minnesota beat Toronto 89-87 in Ottawa; Toronto handled Washington 92-82 in Montreal.
- 2016: Toronto defeated Golden State 97-93 in Vancouver, while Denver beat Toronto 108-106 in Calgary.
- 2018: Toronto defeated Portland 122-104 in Vancouver and Brooklyn 118-91 in Montreal.
- 2019: Dallas beat the Clippers 102-87 in Vancouver.
- 2022: Toronto routed Utah 114-82 in Edmonton and outlasted Boston 137-134 in Montreal.
- 2023: Toronto beat Sacramento 112-99 in Vancouver; Detroit defeated Oklahoma City 128-125 in Montreal.
- 2024: Toronto beat Washington 125-98 in Montreal.
- 2025: Denver defeated Toronto 112-108 in Vancouver.
