NBA Rumors: Here’s Why Raptors Won’t Play 2021 NBA Season In Louisville

The Toronto Raptors are looking for a place to call home for the NBA’s upcoming season.

And it appears Louisville is out of the running.

An unsourced report by Yahoo! Sports’ Vincent Goodwill on Wednesday suggested the team started discussing Louisville as a potential temporary home for the Raptors while the United States-Canada border remains closed due to COVID-19. The KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville was reported to be one of the locations under consideration.

But the team no longer is considering Louisville as a landing spot, three sources told WDRB’s Rick Bozich on Thursday. The discussions reportedly ended after Raptors players “communicated their reluctance to play in Louisville because of the shooting death of Breonna Taylor by Louisville Metro Police officers as well as the social unrest that followed,” per Bozich’s report.

Toronto has been among the most vocal teams in the NBA regarding social justice issues of late. Raptors players were active in the league’s discussions following the Jacob Blake shooting in August and even discussed boycotting Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals with the Boston Celtics.

Where will the Raptors call home in 2021, though? The search continues.