The New York Knicks reached Scotiabank Arena on October 13, 2026, for a preseason game against the Toronto Raptors, but the night was set up more for rotation work than for a full-strength test. Mike Brown planned to sit his starters, leaving New York to lean on reserves in a matchup that came with the Knicks on the second night of a back-to-back.
That is why the search around Knicks Vs Raptors carried weight on this date. Kawhi Leonard was expected to get his first preseason action for Toronto, giving the game a different center of gravity even though the teams were meeting in October, not in the spring. The scheduled tip was 7:00 PM ET, and for Toronto the attraction was simple: a first look at Leonard after the club’s mid-September deal and extension.
The last time these teams met, New York beat Toronto 112-95 at MSG on April 10, with Jalen Brunson scoring 29 points and Karl-Anthony Towns adding 22 points and 10 rebounds. Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram each had 15 points for Toronto that night, and New York had also won 13 straight regular-season meetings against the Raptors. That history made the preseason rematch look less like a fresh measuring stick and more like a chance to see how the rosters had shifted since April.
Toronto’s offseason was built around Leonard’s return, and the club entered this game after splitting its first two scrimmages by beating the Clippers and losing to Miami. The Raptors finished last season 46-36 as a fifth seed and a top-five defense, then added Allen Graves at 19th overall, Jaden Bradley at 50th, Kyle Anderson on a one-year minimum deal, and Jamal Shead on a three-year, $24 million deal. They also kept RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Scottie Barnes in the core while Jakob Poeltl remained the anchor in the paint.
Leonard’s arrival came with its own delay: the original June agreement was pushed back by an NBA investigation before the deal was finalized in mid-September. Toronto paid for the move with Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, unprotected first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, second-round picks in 2030 and 2033, and a 2027 first-round swap to the Clippers, then followed it with a two-year, $115 million extension for Leonard. That is the backdrop to his preseason debut, and it is why the details of his minutes matter more than the score line itself.
For New York, though, the more immediate issue was less glamorous. The Knicks arrived after three straight losses and were expected to give extended time to Deuce McBride, Tyler Kolek and Landry Shamet while Brown kept the starters parked. That should make the first true read on this game less about the headline names and more about whether New York’s reserves can stop the slide before the preseason record slips further from 0-3.
