Raptors' Defense Meets a Reshaped Timberwolves Starting Five

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Toronto's defense-first identity faces a Minnesota lineup still learning how its new pieces fit.

TOR @ MIN Oct 25, 2026 at 11:00 PM UTC

Toronto arrives in Minnesota 1-0, and the Raptors' identity is easy to read: they are expected to be at least a top-five defense. Kawhi Leonard, Barnes and the secondary defenders around them are built to make every possession difficult. That matters against a Timberwolves group that has changed a great deal.

Minnesota will start LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Jonathan Kuminga and Rudy Gobert. Randle and Reid are gone, so this lineup has real talent but little shared history. Toronto's best chance is to make the Wolves' new pieces work through traffic and turn the game into a half-court grind. Ball's playmaking and Edwards' shot creation will be tested by a defense that wants to take away easy looks.

The injuries tilt the margins. Nate Bittle is out for Toronto with a foot injury, which removes a big man from the Raptors' rotation. That matters most against Gobert, whom Toronto will have to handle at the rim and on the glass with fewer frontcourt options. Minnesota is also without Donte DiVincenzo, who is out with an Achilles injury, so a guard spot in the rotation is gone. The Wolves still have enough ball handlers and wing size in the starting group to absorb that loss.

Offensively, Toronto will lean on Leonard as the lead option in a new-look attack that now runs through him instead of Brandon Ingram. He should get his looks, but Minnesota has the length of McDaniels and Gobert's rim protection to make those shots costly. I expect a tight, low-event game. Minnesota's higher-end starting talent and home floor should be just enough against Toronto's thinner frontcourt.

Prediction: Timberwolves 108, Raptors 103.

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