Toronto Raptors release 2021-22 schedule, welcome Kyle Lowry back in February

The Toronto Raptors will open their 2021-22 NBA season on Oct. 20 at home against the Washington Wizards.

However, the location of that home game is not known yet.

The team announced the schedule in a video featuring players saying “We’re coming home” but a team spokesperson confirmed to Sportsnet’s Steven Loung that the team has not received government approval to host games in Toronto yet.

On Wednesday, Raptors president and vice-chairman Masai Ujiri said he was hopeful they’ll play out of Scotiabank Arena.

“Our hope is that we’re playing at home. We have no interest, we have not looked elsewhere, we are not going to look elsewhere, we’re playing at home,” Ujiri said. “That’s the goal for us.”

The Toronto Blue Jays, Canada’s three MLS teams and all nine CFL teams have been playing home games since mid-July but those teams play in open-air venues.

The Raptors, who played all their home dates during the 2020-21 season in Tampa, Fla., haven’t hosted a game at Scotiabank Arena since Feb. 28, 2020 against the Charlotte Hornets.

This marks the 10th straight season, and the 21st time in team history, the Raptors have started the regular season at home. Toronto plays its first road game in Boston on Oct. 22.

Notable home games this season include the return of six-time NBA all-star Kyle Lowry when the Miami Heat visit on Feb. 3. The Raptors will host Miami again on April 3.

The NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks make their lone trip north of the border on Dec. 2, while LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers visit March 18.

The longest home stand of the season is seven games between Nov. 28 and Dec. 13, and December is their busiest month at home with 10 games. They have two six-game road trips, Nov 15-26 and March 6-16. They’ll have 14 back-to-back games this season.

They play the majority of their games Fridays, with 16. They have 15 Wednesday games.

Toronto’s schedule features six games on U.S. national broadcasts, with one each on ESPN (Jan. 21 at Washington) and TNT (Feb. 3 vs. Miami), and four on NBATV (Nov. 1 at New York, Nov. 11 at Philadelphia, Feb. 4 vs. Atlanta and April 3 vs. Miami).