Preparation for the 30th season of Toronto Raptors basketball will begin out of province.
The Raptors announced Wednesday that training camp will be held at Université du Québec à Montréal.
The Raptors trained in Quebec City in 2019, ahead of the 25th season in franchise history and coming off winning the NBA title, and now will train in Montreal for the first time.
“Montreal’s passion and enthusiasm for basketball and the Raptors is undeniable,” Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said in a release. “We’re looking forward to spending the week in such a beautiful place and soaking up the atmosphere and culture of the city.
“This is an important week of basketball for our team and UQAM offers us a great facility as we prepare for the upcoming season.”
Toronto will open the pre-season at Bell Centre on Oct. 6 against the Washington Wizards. Other exhibitions will be Oct. 11 at Washington, Oct. 13 at Boston against the defending champions, a rematch with the Celtics at Scotiabank Arena on Oct. 15 and at Brooklyn on Oct. 18.
Raptors media day will be held in Toronto on Sept. 30.
This summer the team inked all-star forward Scottie Barnes to a maximum contract, re-signed point guard Immanuel Quickley, drafted a number of prospects, added Davion Mitchell in a trade with the Sacramento Kings and opted to pick up the final year of swingman Bruce Brown’s contract, likely to try to deal him during the season.
Team also unveiled a logo to celebrate its 30th anniversary earlier this week.
The NBA schedule will be released later this summer.