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Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic says he will consider playing Kawhi Leonard in Saturday's sold-out pre-season opener against the Miami Heat in Quebec City. The Raptors are taking a cautious approach with the often-injured Leonard.
Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic says he will think about playing Kawhi Leonard on Saturday night, but it seems unlikely as the team has been taking it slow with the often-injured star during training camp.
Leonard Pre-Season Availability In Doubt
The Raptors held their final practice at Laval University on Friday before opening the pre-season against the Miami Heat at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City. The game is the first-ever NBA game in Quebec City and it is already sold out. Leonard has yet to participate in full-contact drills, but he did take part in a very light head-to-head drill against his coach after Friday's practice.
It is a day-to-day thing with Kawhi, but since he beat me today at one-on-one, maybe he will play against the Heat, joked Rajakovic, the fourth-year head coach of Canada's lone NBA team. The Raptors held a sold-out intrasquad game the night before on the home court of the Rouge et Or at Laval University.
Leonard helped Toronto win the 2019 NBA championship and was traded back to Toronto from the Los Angeles Clippers in a well-publicized deal this past summer. The Heat have added new centre Giannis Antetokounmpo, while the Raptors also added a perennial all-star to their roster. Both teams are set to meet, with Miami considered one of the most improved teams in the NBA.
Raptors Roster Changes Impact Conference
Rajakovic said most of his regulars will play against the Heat, and that could include point guard Immanuel Quickley. Quickley said he tries to emulate the two-way game that Leonard has mastered. My dad got me to watch Leonard play when he was with the Spurs, Quickley said.
He was talking to me about Leonard's defence, and he was the first person I saw as a two-way player, and that is the way I am now, to play offence and defence, as not a lot of players like to do that. The Eastern Conference looks a lot different than it did at the end of the 2025-26 season. With the arrival of Antetokounmpo with Miami, and LeBron James and Jaylen Brown in Philadelphia, several teams have improved.
Rajakovic has high expectations for his team despite the changes around the conference. Expectations are changing, and we do not care what the other teams say about us, Rajakovic said. We have high expectations from Day 1, that is how we work, that is how we approach it. Rajakovic said he is really happy with the way the first days of training camp went, but now it is time to see how the team stacks up against outside competition.
Coaching Staff Cautiously Optimistic For Opener
Every team in the NBA is super-excited at this time of year, everybody likes their drills, but the players are sick and tired of going against each other, so we are excited to go out and play someone else, Rajakovic said. The game tomorrow will also give us a lot of answers. The first-ever NBA game in Quebec City being sold out has not gone unnoticed by Rajakovic.
We are a little bit spoiled everywhere we go in Canada, he said. We are spoiled but at the same time we are very grateful, as we understand the importance of the Raptors in the different Canadian cities and communities, and the influence the team has on the younger generation. After playing the Heat in Quebec City, the Raptors continue their training camp in British Columbia before playing the Clippers, Leonard's former team, on Oct. 10 in Vancouver.
The news was published on October 2, 2026, at 5:04 p.m. EDT. A photo from training camp in Quebec City on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, showed Leonard giving a high five to Quickley at the end of NBA basketball training camp action. The Canadian Press image was taken by Jacques Boissinot.
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CP24:Raptors coach Rajakovic leaves the door open a crack for Leonard to play against Heat 
CTVToronto:Raptors coach Rajakovic leaves the door open a crack for Leonard to play against HeatThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
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