Raptors ready to open bizarre season in Tampa Bay

Before team president Masai Ujiri placed the lucky toonie in the Raptors’ new practice floor, the team president held it aloft and said: “This is for the Tampa Bay Raptaneers.”

The joke was a reference to Toronto’s temporary NFL neighbours, the Buccaneers. And it said plenty about the bizarre season the Raptors are about to begin.

The Raptors host New Orleans on Wednesday to tip off a new season. Any other year, Kyle Lowry and a new-look lineup would dominate the storylines. But this isn’t any other year.

Due to Canada’s travel restrictions around COVID-19, the Raptors are forced to play at least the first half of a 72-game schedule in Tampa, Fla. The Raptors have tried to make the city on Florida’s west coast feel like home, building a new practice facility in a downtown Marriott, and hanging the team’s 2019 NBA championship banner from the rafters of Amalie Arena alongside Lightning star Vincent Lacavalier’s retired jersey.

A year after more than 20,000 fans celebrated the Raptors’ NBA championship ring ceremony on opening night at Scotiabank Arena, a limited crowd of 3,800 fans will be at Amalie for Wednesday’s opener because of COVID-19 protocols.

“I understand what goes into making this thing work . . . I think everything is in place to ensure that we can be as safe as possible,” Raptors guard Fred VanVleet said.

“It was a little weird (during the pre-season) being back in front of fans for the first time in a while but I think we’ll all get used to the weirdness of this year quickly.”

The global pandemic could play the big spoiler this season. For now, the league has released the schedule up to March, and the Raptors would love to move back to Toronto for the second half.

But if not?

“We want to win. We want to play basketball. So, whether we are in Naples, whether we are in a bubble in Orlando, whether we’re here, whether we’re coming back, we play sports to win. All of us believe in that,” Ujiri said.