Raptors, minus Kawhi, pick up pre-season win over Clippers in Vancouver

Others starters dominate, Poeltl looks like old self in exhibition.

Published Oct 10, 2026  •  4 minute read

Raptors’ Jakob Poeltl is fouled by Isaiah Jackson of the L.A. Clippers during a regular season game last March in Inglewood, Calif. The teams met in a pre-season game last night in Vancouver and Poeltl looked much more mobile than he did last year. Photo by Ronald Martinez /Getty Images

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Kawhi Leonard didn’t play against his old team on Saturday night in Vancouver. It didn’t matter, as his new squad didn’t need him.

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Leonard sat, as expected but against an undermanned opponent that has already been ravaged by injuries, including to ex-Raptor Brandon Ingram, it made no difference as the Raptors won the first three quarters to take a commanding lead on the way to a 114-106 victory.

The Raptors looked much more in sync compared to the ugly pre-season opener in Quebec City, an easy 129-105 Miami Heat win. But the best sign for the team was how starting centre Jakob Poeltl was moving. Poeltl seemed to be stuck in mud too often last season when a bad back limited his mobility, but after a new off-season workout plan, he’s come back much more mobile. Poeltl was all over the place early, running the floor, diving to the court, blocking shots and finishing plays. Yes, matching up with Brook Lopez helped Poeltl look more spry (Lopez remains a solid player, but is in his 18th season and is nearly 300 pounds), but it wasn’t just that.

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If the Raptors get anywhere close to this level of Poeltl throughout the season they’ll be far better than most expect. He might not be as crucial a piece as he was a few years ago when the team basically couldn’t win when he wasn’t in the lineup, but he can still be pretty important.

Poeltl has also seemed to play his best with Immanuel Quickley playing alongside him and the duo complemented each other nicely in this one. Quickley was the best player on the floor in the first half (RJ Barrett was solid too), with Toronto taking a 57-44 lead.

Quickley turned it up another notch in the third quarter as the Raptors continued to pull away, hitting a flurry of three-pointers (Quickley connected on all but one of his six three-point attempts). Scottie Barnes was also sharp, at times looking like a man playing against boys, especially on the glass.

With Toronto going deep into its bench in the fourth, Los Angeles staged a rally, going on a 17-6 run to start the quarter.

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Missing in action

While Leonard was the big name missing for the Raptors, there had been hope that Allen Graves, selected 19th overall at June’s draft, would be able to suit up to make his exhibition Raptors debut. Graves had looked better than most of the competition at July’s NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and had impressed his new teammates throughout the summer, but was held out due to his groin injury.

Since Graves was close to playing Saturday, per reporters in Vancouver, there’s an excellent chance he’s in the lineup Tuesday for Toronto’s lone home exhibition against the defending champion New York Knicks. We’d expect a Leonard sighting as well for that one. He’s generally played in at least two exhibitions per season when healthy and the Raptors have only three left after Saturday, with the final two being a back-to-back set. There’s no chance Leonard plays in both legs of the back-to-back. We’re not load management specialists, but Tuesday at home against the Knicks and at Detroit three days later seems about right.

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The Raptors were also without third-string centre Trayce Jackson-Davis, prospect big man Nate Bittle and second-year wing Alijah Martin due to injuries.

In the mix

The team did get free agent pickup Kyle Anderson in and it was thought shooting threat Jamison Battle would play too after both missed the Miami game. Battle ended up not playing, but it will be interesting to see if either can work their way into Darko Rajakovic’s rotation consistently.

Battle played in 59 and then 61 games in his two seasons with Toronto, but averaged about half the minutes in 2025-26 compared to the previous year when the Raptors were ravaged by injuries. Still, he’s the best three-point shooter on the team and had some big moments in the playoffs against Cleveland. Considering Toronto is one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA, it’s hard to imagine Battle not getting himself a look, especially since Leonard will be rested for a bunch of games.

Anderson should be a more interesting case. He’s one of Toronto’s oldest players with plenty of experience and averaged just under 20 minutes a game at three stops last season. While some have likened his signing to simply replacing veteran leader Garrett Temple, who rarely played, Anderson still believes he has plenty in the tank and has a varied skill-set. He also spent two years in Memphis when Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic was a key member of the coaching staff and both are fans of each other. That first season happens to be the best of Anderson’s 12-year career. He averaged 12.4 points in 69 games, all starts.

But he’s not a three-point threat at all, which could be an issue with a group that already has one of those in Poeltl and others like Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles who are inconsistent from outside at best. Anderson was quiet against the Clippers.

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