The Toronto Raptors play host to the New Orleans Pelicans at ScotiaBank Arena on Tuesday.

The Pelicans looked poised for big things when Anthony Davis developed into a superstar player but that era is now over. The crazy thing about that is the fact that this team may be better without him. While they did lose arguably the most talented player in the NBA, New Orleans added an abundance of young talent. The most notable piece is Zion Williamson. The top pick out of Duke has all the potential in the world and preseason results would indicate that we're in for a special season. Unfortunately, he's now dealing with a knee issue and won't be available for the first couple of weeks. The good news is that they added more than just him. In the Davis trade, the Pelicans acquired Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and Brandon Ingram as well. Those are some very good young players and it doesn't even take into consideration that they signed Derrick Favors and J.J. Redick too. This whole new roster will look to gel around Jrue Holiday, as he's the man who runs the show. This should be one of the most dynamic teams to watch this season and it's exciting to see what they put out there without AD.

The Raptors had one of the most miraculous title runs in recent memory. Beating the Bucks after trailing 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals was impressive enough but handing the Golden State Warriors a defeat in the NBA Finals was the icing on the cake. Unfortunately, the star of that show is now gone, with Kawhi Leonard taking his talent to Los Angeles to play with the Clippers. The team remains relatively unchanged aside from that but this will be an uphill battle to repeat. The strength of this club is in their frontcourt though, with Pascal Siakam breaking out and Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka holding down the paint. They'll need a lot our of those guys and a resurgent season from Kyle Lowry to make another miraculous run.

Despite splitting their two matchups last season, Toronto has now won seven of their last eight games against New Orleans and 13 of their last 16 meetings in total.