October 22, 2026 at 5:59 AM UTC

Postgame Report

Raptors open with a 135-92 rout of the Bulls as Leonard, Barnes and Quickley each score 23

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Toronto's new-look starters made the opener at Scotiabank Arena an early showcase, while rebuilding Chicago gave its young players the minutes.

The Raptors opened their season at Scotiabank Arena the way a team billed as an East contender wants to, beating the Bulls 135-92 on Wednesday night. The 43-point margin was never in doubt for long. The prediction pieces that ran all week had plenty to argue about, but none of them seemed to anticipate a game that was over before the fourth quarter.

Chicago is a different kind of team now, and openly so. The front office, coaching staff and roster all turned over this summer, and executive Bryson Graham and coach Tiago Splitter are building toward later rather than now. That means young players get the ball and the room to make mistakes with it. Matas Buzelis scored 17 and Jalen Smith added 15 in 19 minutes. Norman Powell also had 15, and Tre Jones scored 13 off the bench in 13 minutes. Josh Giddey had six assists but scored just two points on a night the offense mostly stalled.

The Raptors' headline pairing arrived in the same starting lineup for the first time, and the early returns were loud. Kawhi Leonard, back in Toronto after a long offseason trade saga that had people thinking about 2019 again, scored 23 points in 24 minutes. Scottie Barnes also had 23 with six rebounds and five assists, and Immanuel Quickley matched them at 23 while adding seven assists. RJ Barrett chipped in 20. Nobody had to carry the others, which is the best kind of chemistry test in an opener, even against a team this raw.

The question around the Raptors was the middle, and Jakob Poeltl's debut was quiet: three points and six rebounds in 22 minutes. Toronto got the work it needed from the backups, with Collin Murray-Boyles grabbing eight rebounds in 20 minutes and rookie Allen Graves adding five in 19. On the other side, rookie Caleb Wilson, the No. 4 pick and a player some have called the best Bulls prospect since Michael Jordan, led all players with 32 minutes. He finished with 16 points and four rebounds, and he is clearly the focal point of Chicago's plans. On this night, though, he was playing from behind most of the way.

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