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<\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re extremely grateful that he is with us, and we\u2019re going to have the opportunity to see him play here in front of the Toronto Raptors\u2019 fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old Leonard is a two-time NBA champion and was named the Finals MVP both times. He\u2019s a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, a seven-time all-star and was named to the All-NBA Team seven times.<\/p>\n
He averaged 27.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.4 blocks over 65 regular-season games last year with the Clippers and was named to the NBA\u2019s second all-star team.\u2028<\/p>\n
However, Rajakovic implied that the oft-injured Leonard would be on a minutes restriction against the Bulls.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started him a little bit later (in the pre-season) and he\u2019s still reconditioning, so we want to be smart with that,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cIt\u2019s seeing the big picture and understanding where he\u2019s at physically and conditioning wise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to put him in a position to have a long run.\u201d<\/p>\n
That didn\u2019t temper expectations among fans filing into Scotiabank Arena before opening tip-off.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I still can\u2019t believe it,\u201d said Omar Rohilla of Brampton, Ont. \u201cEvery time I see him in a Raptors jersey, I feel like I\u2019m looking at AI. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just can\u2019t believe he\u2019s back. I\u2019m just excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
His father Aftab Rohilla, wearing a matching Leonard jersey, agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAwesome, awesome, man,\u201d he said. \u201cI hated it when he left, but the return\u2019s going to be sweet for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack Poon and Cecilia Lau of Aurora, Ont., said that the excitement around the home opener reminded them of the last time Leonard played for the Raptors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s 2019 all over again,\u201d said Poon. \u201c(We bought these tickets) specifically for tonight because it\u2019s his comeback tour. It\u2019s the same feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lau said she had high expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, win again,\u201d said Lau. \u201cWhen I woke up I put on my 2019 championship hat and the winning T-shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n
All-star forward Scottie Barnes gave a pre-game introduction welcoming fans back for the new season. He opened his remarks by saying \u201cWhat it do baybee,\u201d a reference to a viral Instagram post shared by former Raptors forward Serge Ibaka back in 2019 where Leonard coined the catchphrase.<\/p>\n
White T-shirts with Leonard\u2019s stretched-out hand across the chest were draped over every seat at the sold-out arena before the gates opened. Fans roared during the singing of \u201cO Canada\u201d when Leonard was featured on the in-house cameras with his head reverently bowed during the national anthem.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2026.<\/p>\n
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re extremely grateful that he is with us, and we\u2019re going to have the opportunity to see him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-941495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}