Raptors start season on Oct. 26

The quest to build on the greatest season in Raptors history will begin on Oct. 26 at home against the Detroit Pistons.

It will be the earliest start date yet for the club, now in its 22nd season, and not a moment too soon for the returning players who fell in six games in the Eastern conference final back in May to eventual champion Cleveland.

That’s not the only rarity, there will be the first back-to-back home contests (vs. the Lakers Dec. 2 and Atlanta the next night) since 1997-98, the April 12 finale (at Cleveland) and the seven nationally televised games in the U.S. (compared to only five, total, over the previous three seasons). And in the department of usual occurrences, there will be no Raptors content on Christmas Day (it has only happened once, during the height of the Vince Carter era), though there will be a gruelling holiday trip through Utah (Dec. 23), Portland (Boxing Day), Oakland and Phoenix (Dec. 28 and 29), Los Angeles (vs. the Lakers on New Year’s Day) and San Antonio on Jan. 3.

The schedule maker gave the Raptors another nasty bit of business by booking the lone appearance of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and the Warriors in Canada a night after a conference finals rematch against LeBron James and Co. (Nov. 15-16).

The longest homestand will be Nov. 28-Dec. 8.

Some of the other big matchups include the first rematch against Cleveland at the ACC on Oct. 28, which will air on ESPN in the U.S., the Andrew Wiggins homecoming and Karl-Anthony Towns show (Dec. 8 on TNT), a Miami rematch at home on Nov. 4, Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid (maybe), and the rest of Bryan Colangelo’s Philadelphia 76ers at the ACC on Nov. 28, Carter’s likely Toronto finale (Nov. 30), Jamal Murray’s first trip close to home (Halloween), Bismack Biyombo’s return (Jan. 29) and, perhaps, the first healthy Anthony Davis sighting in years (Jan. 31).

There will be 19 games tipping on Fridays, 18 on Wednesdays.

Sunday home games will either start at 3 or 6 p.m.