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<\/p>\nIt was Leonard\u2019s first regular-season appearance for Toronto since 2019, when he led the Raptors to their only NBA championship.<\/p>\n
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He signed with his hometown Los Angeles Clippers that following off-season. L.A. traded him back to Toronto this past summer, although the deal was delayed as the NBA investigated Leonard and the Clippers for salary cap circumvention.<\/p>\n
Because of the trade\u2019s delay, Leonard is still working into game shape and head coach Darko Rajakovic implied pre-game that the 35-year-old forward would be on a minutes cap.<\/p>\n
Rajakovic pulled Leonard early in the fourth with Toronto holding a 40-point lead but the two-time Defensive Player of the Year asked to be put back in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI (didn\u2019t) get a chance to play a lot in training camp, so any minutes I could get or continue to play (are important),\u201d said Leonard. \u201cI know it\u2019s blowing them out, but the goal is to try to get 23, 24 minutes tonight. <\/p>\n
\u201cI just need more reps to learn plays \u2026 this is where you get better. You get better on the floor and trying things and shooting a ball when you\u2019re open, you can\u2019t wait until practice and just shoot 100 shots. You need game reps.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old Leonard is a two-time NBA champion and was named Finals MVP both times. He\u2019s 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
A career 49.9 per cent field-goal shooter, including a 39.1 per cent three-point shooter, Leonard was uncharacteristically inefficient against the Bulls. He made five of his 17 field-goal attempts, including going 2 for 6 from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that the shots that he was getting were really good shots. He\u2019s still building his capacity to play,\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cI really love the fact that he asked to play more minutes in the fourth quarter just to get his legs under him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just part of the process. But every minute that he spends on the court, that capacity is going to just go up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The excitement surrounding Leonard\u2019s return was palpable as soon as the gates opened at Scotiabank Arena.<\/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
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
Ibaka was in the crowd on Wednesday, as was rapper Drake, Toronto Tempo all-star Marina Mabrey, several members of the Toronto Argonauts, and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment\u2019s leadership group including majority owner Edward Rogers and president Keith Pelley.<\/p>\n
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
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
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":"It was Leonard\u2019s first regular-season appearance for Toronto since 2019, when he led the Raptors to their only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,2465,2466,82,3302],"class_list":["post-941807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941807","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=941807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}