The Basketball Fans

Toronto Raptors

Published April 18, 2026 · Updated April 23, 2026 · By The Basketball Fans Editors

Editorial tile: Toronto Raptors
Photo via Unsplash. Unsplash License.

The Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA championship, the first championship ever won by a franchise based outside the United States. Kawhi Leonard, acquired in July 2018 from San Antonio in the most consequential single trade in franchise history, was the 2019 Finals MVP. The franchise began in 1995 as one of two NBA expansion teams placed in Canadian cities (Vancouver was the other, that team moved to Memphis in 2001). Toronto has made the playoffs sixteen times in thirty seasons, reached the Eastern Conference Finals twice, and won one championship. The team is owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), the Canadian sports conglomerate whose majority ownership transferred to Rogers Communications via a $4.7 billion purchase from Bell Canada in March 2025. The Raptors’ 2025 Forbes valuation was approximately $4.1 billion.

Scotiabank Arena in Toronto
Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto, the Raptors' home since 1999. The building opened as the Air Canada Centre and was renamed in 2018. It is the only current NBA arena outside the United States. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

The 1995 expansion

The NBA awarded Toronto an expansion franchise in April 1993 to begin play for the 1995–96 season. The ownership group was led by John Bitove Jr., a Toronto-based restaurateur. The team name “Raptors” was chosen via public-vote contest in 1994 and referenced the 1993 film Jurassic Park; the Velociraptor was the branding lead. The original color scheme (purple, black, red, silver) reflected the film tie-in. The first head coach was Brendan Malone (previously a Detroit assistant). Damon Stoudamire, the fifth overall pick in 1995, was 1995–96 Rookie of the Year.

The early Raptors struggled competitively but immediately drew significant television audiences in Canada. Bitove’s ownership group sold the franchise to Allan Slaight in 1996; Slaight sold to the Maple Leaf Gardens Limited ownership (which would later become MLSE) in 1998.

The Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady years (1998–2004)

The 1998 NBA Draft produced two future Hall of Fame cousins. Vince Carter was selected fifth overall by Golden State and traded to Toronto for Antawn Jamison. Tracy McGrady had been drafted ninth overall by the Raptors the previous year. The two cousins played together for two seasons. McGrady signed with Orlando in the summer of 2000.

Carter became the franchise’s first genuine NBA star. He won the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest with the single most-replayed contest performance since Julius Erving’s 1976 foul-line dunk. He averaged 27.6 points across the 1999–2001 seasons. The 2000–01 Raptors, coached by Lenny Wilkens, went 47–35 and reached the second round of the playoffs, losing to Allen Iverson’s 76ers in seven games. Game 7, played at Philadelphia’s First Union Center on May 20, 2001, ended with a Carter jumper from the right wing that bounced in and out with 2.0 seconds remaining. The image of Carter’s face as the shot rolled out is the most-reproduced single image in pre-championship Raptors history.

Carter demanded a trade in December 2004 and was moved to the New Jersey Nets that month for Aaron Williams, Eric Williams, Alonzo Mourning, two first-round picks, and cash. The trade ended the Carter era. It is the most-criticized trade in franchise history for the value Toronto received in return.

The Chris Bosh years (2003–2010)

Chris Bosh was drafted fourth overall in 2003 out of Georgia Tech. He was an All-Star in each of his seven Toronto seasons. The 2006–07 Raptors won the Atlantic Division and finished 47–35 under head coach Sam Mitchell. They lost in the first round. The 2007–08 team made the playoffs and lost in the first round. Bosh left as a free agent in July 2010 to join LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami in “The Decision” signing. The Bosh-era Raptors did not win a playoff series.

The rebuild and the DeRozan-Lowry era (2010–2018)

DeMar DeRozan was drafted ninth overall in 2009 out of USC. Kyle Lowry was acquired from Houston in July 2012 for Gary Forbes and a first-round pick. Masai Ujiri was hired as general manager in May 2013 from Denver. The 2013–14 Raptors won the Atlantic Division at 48–34. The 2013–14 through 2017–18 Raptors made the playoffs five consecutive years, winning 50+ games in each of the last four.

The 2015–16 Raptors reached the Eastern Conference Finals and lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers 4–2. It was the franchise’s first conference finals appearance. The 2017–18 Raptors went 59–23, the franchise’s best regular-season record to that point. They were swept by the Cavaliers in the second round.

The DeRozan-Lowry-Casey Raptors were, over five seasons, widely respected as a regular-season team but criticized for their inability to advance past the second round. Head coach Dwane Casey was fired in May 2018 despite winning Coach of the Year. Ujiri replaced him with Nick Nurse, an NBA assistant who had previously coached in the G League. The decision, at the time, was the most-criticized hiring of the Ujiri tenure.

The 2018 Leonard trade

On July 18, 2018, Ujiri traded DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a protected first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. Leonard had played nine games for San Antonio in 2017–18 due to a quadriceps injury and a public dispute with the Spurs’ medical staff. The Raptors’ trade was a one-year rental: Leonard had an opt-out after 2018–19, and Ujiri had received no guarantee that he would re-sign.

The trade is the most-consequential single transaction in Canadian basketball history. The 2018–19 Raptors went 58–24.

The 2019 championship

The 2019 playoff run:

Game 6 of the Finals, played at Oracle Arena on June 13, 2019, ended with Leonard’s jumper from the left elbow with 8.9 seconds left and the Warriors’ final inbound play failing at the rim. Toronto won 114–110.

The 2019 championship parade, held June 17, 2019, drew an estimated 1.5 to 2 million attendees along a 3.4-kilometer route from Exhibition Place to Nathan Phillips Square. It is the largest public gathering in Canadian history after the 2003 SARS Toronto concert crowd. The parade ended with a shooting at Nathan Phillips Square in which four people were injured; the incident drew national media attention and remains one of the few public-safety footnotes of the championship.

Post-Kawhi, 2019–present

Leonard signed a four-year, $141 million contract with the Los Angeles Clippers on July 5, 2019. The post-Kawhi Raptors have made the playoffs three times (2020, 2021 via play-in, 2022) and have not reached the second round. Pascal Siakam, the 2019–20 Most Improved Player, was traded to Indiana in January 2024. Scottie Barnes, drafted fourth overall in 2021, was 2021–22 Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in 2024.

The 2024–25 Raptors entered the season with lottery-level expected wins and a young core of Barnes, RJ Barrett (acquired from the Knicks in December 2023), Immanuel Quickley, and Ochai Agbaji.

The 2024–25 ownership transition

MLSE’s ownership structure before September 2024 was 37.5 percent Rogers Communications, 37.5 percent Bell Canada, 25 percent Larry Tanenbaum. On September 18, 2024, Rogers announced a $4.7 billion purchase of Bell’s 37.5 percent stake. The NBA approved the transaction in March 2025. Rogers now controls 75 percent of MLSE. Tanenbaum retains 25 percent as chairman.

Retired numbers

Two jersey numbers have been retired:

Kawhi Leonard’s number 2 has not been retired, a subject of ongoing Toronto basketball-press debate given that the 2019 championship is the single largest basketball event in Canadian sports history.

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