Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) reacts to a foul call in the first half of Game 4 in the first round of the NBA basketball playoffs against the Washington Wizards, Sunday, April 26, 2015, in Washington.Alex Brandon/The Associated Press
The Toronto Raptors open their 2015-16 season on Oct. 28 at home against the Indiana Pacers before playing 11 of their next 14 games on the road.
The NBA schedule released Wednesday sees the Raptors travel across the Atlantic Ocean for a game in London, not host a game at Air Canada Centre for two thirds of February and enjoy two seven-game homestands.
The Raptors' longest road swing is six games from Feb. 1-19. That span includes the 2016 all-star game in Toronto.
To balance out the lengthy road trips, the Raptors have seven-game homestands from, Jan. 18-30 and March 2-14.
The Raptors travel to London for the second time in team history when they face the Orlando Magic on Jan. 14 at The O2 Arena.
Toronto's only game shown on TNT in the United States is Jan. 28 versus New York.
The Raptors play host to two visits from LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 25 and Feb. 26. The lone visit from Stephen Curry and the NBA Champion Golden State Warriors is Dec. 5.
Canadian star Andrew Wiggins and Karl Towns Jr., the first overall pick in the 2015 draft, bring the Minnesota Timberwolves to Toronto on Feb. 24 while Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder make a late-season appearance on March 28.
The NBA says it tried to make the season more physically forgiving for players by building in more days off between games in its new schedule.
As the number of injuries to star players has increased in recent years, games on back-to-back days have become a hot-button issue, with some players and officials suggesting the total number of games, 82, could be reduced. That seems unlikely.
But the league noted in its news release Wednesday that the new schedule would have only 27 instances in which any team would play four games in five nights, down from 70 last season. The league also noted that the average number of instances that each team would play games on back-to-back days would be reduced to 17.8, from 19.3 last season.
The Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who met in the finals last season, are each scheduled to play 25 games on national television, and their meeting on Dec. 25 will highlight a slate of five matchups that day.
Files from the New York Times were used in this report