Five Things to Watch in NBA Preseason, Including Kawhi Leonard’s First Game vs. Clippers

The new NBA season is upon us ... kind of.

The 2026–27 NBA preseason will kick off on Saturday, when the Heat head to Quebec City to play the Raptors as part of the league’s Canada Games series. It marks the unofficial start of the new campaign, even if wins, losses and stats don’t actually count until the Celtics and Pistons tip off Oct. 20 in the first regular season game of the year. But such details should be overlooked in the interest of getting jacked up about what will be an incredibly interesting NBA season.

Of course, passionate NBA fans feel that way every year in early October ... and then the enthusiasm fades almost immediately as we are all reminded what preseason basketball actually is. They are nothing more than glorified practices with the appearance of an actual game painted on.

But it’s still the first dose of NBA basketball we’re getting since Jalen Brunson dropped 45 to win the Knicks a championship. And there will be plenty of things to watch out for.

Here are five things we’re watching as NBA preseason gets underway.

Familiar faces in new places

LeBron James will don a 76ers uniform in a game for the first time on October 5. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Thanks to an unusually active offseason over the summer, a number of big-name stars changed jerseys. This preseason will feature the debuts of:

Kawhi Leonard for the Raptors* (Oct. 3)
Giannis Antetokounmpo for the Heat (Oct. 3)
LeBron James and Jaylen Brown for the 76ers (Oct. 5)
LaMelo Ball for the Timberwolves (Oct. 5)
Ja Morant for the Trail Blazers (Oct. 7)
Paul George for the Celtics (Oct. 8)
Anthony Davis for the Wizards (Oct. 8)

*It’s not Kawhi’s first time in a Raptors uniform but it’ll be his debut alongside Scottie Barnes and Co. so it counts!

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Quite a list, right? And that’s without even mentioning less-famous but still notable names like Tyler Herro and Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Bucks, Oct. 5), Julius Randle (Nets, Oct. 6) and Norman Powell (Bulls, Oct. 7). There’s also Nic Claxton (Bulls), Walker Kessler (Lakers, Oct. 5), Mitchell Robinson (Celtics) and Miles Bridges (Suns, Oct. 5).

The preseason will serve as an early dose of what these guys will look like in their new threads, as well as give us a very broad view of how their new teams will play with them in the lineup compared to last season. Moreover it’s a stark reminder of just how wild this summer was in the NBA world.

Stars returning from injury

They probably aren’t going to get a ton of run, but three star players will be back on the court this month after missing all of last season with injuries. It will be great to see them return to action.

The most notable name, naturally, is Tyrese Haliburton. The Pacers’ star tore his Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals in one of the most heartbreaking moments NBA fans have borne witness to this century. He was sidelined throughout last year’s campaign, during which Indiana completely bottomed out but added Ivica Zubac to replace the departed Myles Turner as Haliburton’s new pick-and-roll partner. Assuming he suits up for the preseason opener, Haliburton will take the floor for the first time in 16 months on Oct. 7.

Similarly, Damian Lillard tore his Achilles during the 2025 playoffs and signed with the Trail Blazers that offseason to spend last year in recovery (with a brief but victorious cameo in the 2026 three-point contest). Portland’s roster as he returns is an odd assortment of talent with Morant in the mix. It will be overseen by a rookie head coach on an unprecedented one-year deal in Micah Nori and the franchise remains deadlocked in contentious arena negotiations with the city with owner Tom Dundon’s reputation looming over everything ... but Dame’s back, baby!

Then there’s Kyrie Irving. The electrifying scorer tore his ACL in March 2025 and took all of last season to recover. He returns to a very different Mavericks team that offloaded his veteran running mate, Anthony Davis, but added budding superstar Cooper Flagg. Irving’s fit alongside his talented young teammate will be fun to watch, but all that matters is we’ll be seeing Irving find impossible ways to score yet again.

Guys coming off serious injuries usually take it pretty light in the preseason, but these three have been on the mend for a long time. They’ll probably be raring to go.

The first (real) look at the heralded 2026 rookie class

The 2026 draft class was proclaimed one of the best we’ve ever seen heading into June’s selection process, and we finally get to see them in action. Properly! For the semantics out there, we did see them take the court as professionals in Summer League, that is true. But preseason will give us the first real look at how their rookie seasons might play out.

No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa will take the floor in Washington alongside Anthony Davis and Trae Young instead of names from Summer League like Felix Okpara, which will prove informative on how the Wizards want touches distributed between the vets and their prized young prospect. The Jazz will trot out a fascinating and talented lineup of Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., Keyonte George and No. 2 pick Darryn Peterson; where will the rookie slot in coach Will Hardy’s priority order as a scorer? No. 4 pick Caleb Wilson will be playing alongside the best passer of his life in Chicago when he hits the parquet alongside Josh Giddey—how does that change his game for the better? And then there’s Cam Boozer, the most pro-ready of the top five who is simultaneously in the worst position to succeed. He’ll probably shine anyway and we’ll see how hard that’ll be starting in preseason.

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All throughout the first round there are intriguing talents whose NBA careers will begin to take shape in October. Even though the stats don’t count and the minutes will be low, preseason does count in this regard.

Kawhi Leonard’s first game against the Clippers

In the more granular sense there’s exactly one matchup that will bring a little more juice to the viewing situation than a normal preseason game: When the Raptors take on the Clippers in Vancouver, pitting Kawhi Leonard against the Clips for the first time since a rather ugly divorce.

As you may have heard, Los Angeles was punished severely for circumventing the salary cap to pay Leonard more than his max salary allowed. But the superstar himself got off pretty light; the NBA asked him to pay a fine of $700,00 but otherwise he was able to walk away from the Clippers and the flaming wreckage he left in his wake after seven seasons and zero championships. Even better for him, the NBA’s discipline cleared the way for Leonard to be traded to a much better team in the East and sign a $115 million extension mere weeks afterwards.

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The contrast in outcomes for player and team means there’s probably some bad feelings between the two sides entering this season! We won’t see proof until the Raptors travel to Intuit Dome to play the Clippers in the regular season, but this will be a nice table-setter for that contest.

Sophomore leaps

Dylan Harper is poised for a big season in San Antonio as he enters his second season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Last year’s rookie class was a very strong one, headlined by former Duke teammates Kon Knueppel and Flagg. While Kneuppel is sidelined with a hamstring injury, the preseason offers the first opportunity for Flagg and his fellow sophomores to show what they worked on after their first dose of NBA basketball.

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The Mavericks’ star won Rookie of the Year honors and figures to take a big step forward with a season’s worth of experience under him after averaging 21 points per game in Dallas. Dylan Harper and VJ Edgecombe will play key roles for contending teams after strong rookie seasons for the Spurs and 76ers, respectively. Jeremiah Fears and Derik Queen showed flashes of interesting play in New Orleans and figure to play a big role in the Pelicans’ future. Egor Dëmin was the best of five Nets rookies, entering the season with a much better supporting cast and a more comfortable role.

It will be a big year for the class of 2025. They’ll be giving us a hint of what’s in store during preseason.

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