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For the first time in years the Toronto Raptors are relevant, respected and have a chance to be ruthless. The 2026-27 NBA season is here, Toronto’s 32nd, and Kawhi Leonard’s return has the city and country abuzz.
Ahead of Monday’s media day, here’s our primer of what’s changed for one of the league’s surprise teams of a year ago. It’s more than just bringing in the 35-year-old superstar and signing him to a contract extension.
New arrivals
Kawhi Leonard: He just turned in the best scoring and shooting season of his illustrious career in 65 games for the Clippers. While his defence isn’t consistently at the all-time great level it was the last time Leonard was a Raptor, it’s possible that he’s an even more devastating offensive player, despite the wear and tear that’s piled up over the ensuing years.
Leonard changes everything for Toronto. Opponents will despise trying to match up with him, Scottie Barnes, Collin Murray-Boyles, Jamal Shead, Ja’Kobe Walter and possibly rookie Allen Graves. All are impactful, disrupting defenders who take pride in as general manager Bobby Webster put it: “Wreaking havoc.”
Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors holds the MVP trophy during the Toronto Raptors Victory Parade on June 17, 2019 in Toronto, Canada.
Defence wasn’t even a problem last season. The team ranked fifth overall there, but now it should be far better.
Offensively, Brandon Ingram had to do a lot of heavy lifting, but Leonard is simply miles better at everything on that end of the floor. He takes and makes more three-pointers, creates more offence without the help of screens from teammates, is a pull-up shooting dynamo and has a track record of delivering time and again in the biggest situations (other than one memorable free throw miss in San Antonio. Nobody’s perfect).
The last time the Raptors acquired a player this impactful was the first time Leonard came to town.
Allen Graves: The analytics darling of the draft, Graves does just about everything well, if unspectacularly. If his shooting carries over, he fits Toronto’s desired mold of players who are good at both ends of the floor exceptionally.
Nobody expects him to be as impactful as Murray-Boyles was as a rookie (there won’t be an available role for Graves as big as the one Murray-Boyles commanded, for one), but there’s a good chance after a couple of months he’s making it hard for the coaching staff to keep him out of the rotation.
Kyle Anderson (left) was a long-time teammate of Kawhi Leonard while both played for the San Antonio Spurs. Here he guards superstar point guard Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. GETTY IMAGES
Kyle Anderson: One of only four Raptors regulars born in the 1990s, Anderson joins his seventh team and reunites with Leonard. The San Antonio teams they played on won 78.3% of the time, better than the Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen Chicago Bulls or Shaquille O’Neal/Kobe Bryant Lakers, as Statmuse pointed out.
Anderson is known as a defender, passer and rebounder, nicknamed “Slo-mo” for his measured, unorthodox style. He is not an outside shooting threat so he’d likely be utilized alongside shooters as opposed to with players like Barnes or Jakob Poeltl. It will be interesting to see how long he can hold off Graves for minutes.
Jaden Bradley: The 50th pick of June’s draft is coming off a spectacular season for Final Four powerhouse Arizona but will be in tough to find any guard minutes in Toronto.
Two-way players Malachi Smith (a sharp-shooting guard) and Trey Jamison (a 6-foot-10, 270-pound bruiser) could be around a bit, but mostly are expected to be with Raptors 905. Perhaps interesting centre Nate Bittle when he heals up could also be an option.
Stephen Silas, who has spent 25 years as a coach in the NBA, comes aboard as an assistant on Darko Rajakovic’s staff, while Jeremy Castleberry returns to Toronto as an assistant as he was under Nick Nurse when Leonard was with the Raptors the first time.
Matt Vest also joins the bench after working as a video coordinator and in player development for the Raptors.
Thanks for the memories
Brandon Ingram: The Ingram trade proved successful for both parties. He rebuilt his value, returning to the court and making his second all-star appearance while bailing out an anemic offence plenty of times last season. Ingram was healthier than he’d been in ages, before a heel injury made him ineffective and ultimately sidelined him for end of the playoff series against Cleveland (Ingram even had to have off-season surgery to deal with the heel spur).
Toronto Raptors Brandon Ingram during the season-ending media availability at the OVO Athletic Centre in Toronto on Monday May 4, 2026.
Ingram was also a popular teammate and enjoyed the city. He probably didn’t expect to move on as quickly as he did, but he’d been traded a couple of times previously and understands the business.
The Raptors managed to upgrade to Leonard and if you add up what they initially gave for Ingram and then added to get Leonard, it worked out well.
Toronto’s Sandro Mamukelashvili shoots the ball in front of Washington’s Bub Carrington (7), Bilal Coulibaly (0), and Will Riley (27) at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., last season.
Sandro Mamukelashvili: A 10/10 value signing last summer, Mamukelashvili ended up getting sixth man of the year votes (including from this scribe) and unlocked Toronto’s offence with his shooting and smarts. He was also as good as it gets as a teammate.
But that fine play (before cratering a bit in the playoffs) made Mamukelashvili a popular target this summer and the Los Angeles Lakers opened the vault to bring him in to help space the floor for Luka Doncic. The man known as Mamu will be missed by all here, but it was clear he was probably not going to be back given Toronto’s cap limitations heading into the summer.
Gradey Dick arrives prior to the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft at Barclays Center on June 22, 2023.
Gradey Dick: Billed as the best shooter in the 2023 draft, Toronto thought it had struck gold when Dick remained on the board at 13. Dick made a memorable entrance in his red sequined suit and shoes and had some intriguing moments early in his Raptors tenure (especially after going on a team-mandate weightlifting program to get stronger during his rookie season), but everything fell apart in Year 3. After starting all 54 appearances as a sophomore and having some big scoring games when the team’s stars were injured, Dick never showed anything in 2025-26 and fell out of the rotation. It’s unclear what happened to his once-revered jump shot, but Dick will now be in tough to re-establish himself as an NBA player in Los Angeles.
Garrett Temple: Temple finally took a pay cut and did the expected, moving into coaching after spending the final three years of his 16 NBA seasons helping Darko Rajakovic set the tone for a Raptors rebuild. The sage veteran helped teach the youngsters a lot in his time in Toronto but now joins Masai Ujiri in Dallas. They won’t forget his lessons and it was a wise move bringing Temple in in the first place. Expect Anderson to pick up some of the slack, though he’ll probably play more than Temple did.
A.J. Lawson of the Raptors dribbles the ball up court against the Utah Jazz during the first half of their basketball game at the Scotiabank Arena on March 7, 2025, in Toronto.
A.J. Lawson: The Canadian got to live out a dream playing for the team he grew up cheering for, including in the playoffs. He provided a scoring spark and is an NBA-quality player, but after four NBA seasons left for Spain, at least for now.
Jonathan Mogbo: A misfire at pick 30, Mogbo showed some flashes as a defensive big man who could rebound and put the ball on the floor, but was limited by a complete inability to shoot and a lack of finishing inside. Like many former Raptors, he’ll get another shot with the Sacramento Kings.
Assistant coaches Mike Batiste and James Wade have also left after three seasons apiece under Rajakovic.