Raptors arrive in Orlando bubble

The Toronto Raptors head off to the NBA's bubble in Orlando, Florida
Raptors arrive in Orlando bubble
Raptors arrive in Orlando bubble /

The Toronto Raptors arrived in Orlando on Thursday afternoon on busses with Black Lives Matter scripted across the side.

The team will now enter the NBA's bubble along with the 22 other teams returning to finish out the season. All players and staff will remain in quarantine for the next 36 hours and must receive two negative COVID-19 tests before they can begin practicing together, according to TSN's Josh Lewenberg.

If everything goes as planned, the team will hold its first practice on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET, according to multiple reports.

The Raptors will hold their first scrimmage game on July 24, at 7:30 p.m against the Houston Rockets. After that, they'll play Portland on July 26 at 6 p.m. and Phoenix on July 28 at 3 p.m.

The season will officially tip-off for Toronto against the Los Angeles Lakers at the 8:30 p.m. on August 1.

If the Raptors repeat as NBA champions this year they'll be living inside the Orlando bubble until mid-October.

Toronto has the sixth-best odds to win the championship this season according to Vegas and can be found anywhere from +2400 to +1500 to win it all, per to Oddschecker.

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- Aaron Rose covers the Toronto Raptors and Canadian basketball for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter @aaronbenrose or on Facebook @AllRaptors.


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Aaron Rose
AARON ROSE

Aaron Rose is a Toronto-based reporter covering the Toronto Raptors since 2020.