Rudy Gay will make his Raptors debut Friday

Toronto basketball fans will get to see their first glimpse of Rudy Gay in a Raptors uniform sooner than originally expected.

Gay, who was introduced to the Toronto media for the first time Friday afternoon alongside Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo and head coach Dwane Casey, wasn’t supposed to be in team’s lineup until Sunday when the Raptors take on the Miami Heat. But according to the team's official media relations Twitter account Gay will be in the lineup when the Raptors play host to the Los Angeles Clippers tonight at the Air Canada Centre. His debut was originally thought to be delayed because it was unknown whether all the players involved in Wednesday's three-way trade would pass their physicals by the end of the day on Friday.

The 26-year-old small forward and centre Hamed Haddadi were acquired by the Raptors oin a trade that sent up-and-coming power forward Ed Davis and 31-year-old point guard Jose Calderon to Memphis. Calderon was then flipped to Detroit in exchange for Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye.

Colangelo has said multiple times since the trade that in 2006 he contemplated drafting Gay with the first-overall pick, but eventually decided to select Andrea Bargnani instead.

And speaking of Bargnani, the seven-foot Italian could potentially return to the Raptors lineup tonight along with Raptors Raptors rookie Jonas Valanciunas. Both participated in a shootaround Friday morning, but Dwane Casey hasn’t said whether either player will be in the Raptor’s lineup tonight. Bargnani has been out of the lineup since December 12th with a sore right elbow and Valancuinas has been suffering from a broken right finger since December 21st.

The Raptors are coming off a heartbreaking 93-92 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday and currently sit in 11th place in the Eastern Conference.