Darko Rajakovic says NBA camp is two weeks too short as Raptors cram final preseason tests

TORONTO — Oct. 14, 2026 — Darko Rajakovic would happily take more of the one thing the NBA calendar will not give him: time. The Raptors coach says the league’s preseason runway is about two weeks too short, and his team is now squeezing its most important evaluation into three games in four nights.

“I think four weeks would be a great length of all the training camp and playing six games, seven games in that amount of time,” Rajakovic said after Monday’s practice, in comments relayed by Roundtable’s Grant Mona. “I think that it will allow enough time to implement offence and defence, to slowly build players with their minutes and give opportunity to all the players.”

In his view, most coaches would say they are missing roughly two weeks of camp, and the way the game is changing calls for a longer build and a couple more exhibitions before games count. He also admitted the current stretch, three games in four nights right after the trip back from the West Coast, is not ideal, even if it still lets him keep testing different players and lineups.

A short camp and a late Kawhi debut

Toronto’s actual camp was brief. After media day on Sept. 28, the Raptors trained in Quebec City from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 at Université Laval’s PEPS complex, then played their first two exhibitions a week apart: a rough night against the Miami Heat in Quebec City and a 114-106 win over the LA Clippers in Vancouver.

The bigger reason the clock matters is Kawhi Leonard. He sat out both of those games to work on his conditioning and did not play until Tuesday, when he scored 21 points in 17 first-half minutes of a 148-98 rout of the Knicks at Scotiabank Arena. Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles each added 19 and RJ Barrett had 17. Rajakovic said afterward he tried to keep Leonard on the floor with the regular group as much as possible “so that they could figure out the chemistry and spacing and that kind of stuff.”

After Wednesday’s practice, Rajakovic spoke about wanting Toronto to play what he called “total basketball” and about staying flexible with how he manages the rotation now that Leonard is in it. Barnes and Murray-Boyles, for their part, said the defense with Leonard could be a nightmare for opponents.

Roster calls arrive before the reps do

The compressed week also overlaps with cutdown. Toronto waived guard Chucky Hepburn on Monday after he tweaked his hamstring and added center Jamarion Sharp on a camp deal, then waived Trey Jemison III on Wednesday, leaving the roster at 20 with one two-way player. Teams must be down to 15 standard contracts and three two-ways by Monday, Oct. 19.

Jamison Battle, who has not played this preseason because of a back issue, is expected to debut Thursday at Madison Square Garden. The Raptors close the exhibition slate Friday in Detroit, then get four days and likely two practices before opening the regular season at home against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, Oct. 21. That opener starts a run of three games in five nights, with six of the first nine on the road.

More on WhyNBA: Kawhi Leonard’s Raptors re-debut, Jamison Battle’s expected debut and Thursday’s Raptors-Knicks rematch.