On October 23, 2015, Raptors 905 of the NBA D-League, who replaced the Mississauga Power earlier in the offseason, announced that they would be facing two NBL Canada teams—the
Windsor Express and
London Lightning—in their three-game preseason schedule. The team would visit the
WFCU Centre to face the Express on the road and compete with the Lightning at their home arena, the
Hershey Centre.[8][9] On November 5, Raptors 905 defeated the Express, 117–114.
Adrian Moss, who scored 38 points, helped Windsor make a comeback after facing an 18-point deficit at halftime.[10] Raptors 905 picked up another win over the Lightning on November 9, after pulling off a 126–111 victory. Tyshawn Patterson, a draft combine addition, led London with 26 points.[11] The Windsor Express played another preseason game against the Lima Express of the
Midwest Professional Basketball Association (MPBA) on December 13 at the
St. Clair College SportsPlex in Windsor, pulling off the 108–82 win.[12] Maurice Bolden led Windsor with 24 points while Lima's Jody Hill put up a game-high 26 points.[13]
On December 18, 2015, the
Halifax Hurricanes and
Island Storm competed in a preseason game at
Centre 200 in
Sydney, Nova Scotia, with the Hurricanes winning, 106–103.[14] Centre 200 is expected to be the home of the future NBL Canada team, the
Cape Breton Highlanders. On December 19, the London Lightning defeated the Windsor Express, 97–87, behind 19 points from
Chad Posthumus and Stephen Maxwell.[15] The Hurricanes also won their second preseason contest over the
Moncton Miracles, that same day, pulling away for a 110–91 victory.[16] On December 21, the Miracles defeated the Storm, 115–110, in a fundraising game at
Crandall University. Moncton's James Justice led all scorers with 27 points.[17] On December 23, the
Saint John Mill Rats defeated the Miracles, 128–110, behind 33 points from Doug Herring, Jr. They set a franchise record for most fans at the
Harbour Station, with an attendance of 6,646.[18][19]
The league announced the
Cape Breton Highlanders, a new expansion team from
Sydney, Nova Scotia, who were expected to operate in the 2015–16 season in the
Atlantic Division.[27] However they later announced they would not join until the 2016–17 season.
The
Saint John Mill Rats unveiled a new logo, slightly resembling their previous one, and an official slogan "Building Amazing Now".[28]