Toronto opened the regular season 2-0 and sits third in the East. The Raptors spent October 18 finishing their roster. They had gone into the final preseason week at 0-0, with a loss at the Pistons and a loss at the Knicks behind them.
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The cuts came first. On October 18 Tyreke Key, Tyson Degenhart, Jalen Celestine, Nimari Burnett and Jamarion Sharp all left the team. That followed the October 17 report from Blake Murphy that Toronto had converted Nate Bittle to a two-way contract and waived five players. Sharp had joined only on October 13 and Celestine on October 16, so both stayed a few days at most.
Bittle's health is the one roster issue still open. He was cleared on October 17 and relisted the same day with a right foot/leg problem. On October 20 his status went from day-to-day to out. The other news that day was a hoopsrumors report that the Raptors picked up 2027/28 options on Collin Murray-Boyles and Ja'Kobe Walter.
The games then began. On October 21, Toronto beat the Bulls 135-92. Immanuel Quickley scored 17 and Kawhi Leonard scored 9. The next day the Raptors were 1-0 and seventh in the East. Hoopsrumors' Fischer notes that day also included the Raptors, but the report gave no detail.
On October 23, Toronto won 112-102 at the Wizards. Scottie Barnes had 28 points and 14 rebounds, and RJ Barrett scored 23. Barnes and Barrett had been the leading scorers in the October 15 loss at the Knicks, with 23 and 21. The Raptors climbed to fourth in the East on October 24 at 2-0, and to third on October 25. They are 2-0 over their last 10 games. Their power ranking rose from 11th to 1st over the week.
Several questions from the preseason have not moved. Leonard has played in the opener, but his October 3 day-to-day listing for a reason described as not injury related was never explained. Barrett's name came up again in the October 9 Atlantic notes, and nothing has been reported on an extension since. Jakob Poeltl's extension status is also unchanged. Toronto has only played two games, so the standing is early, but the team has not lost since it went 0-0.
Open storylines
as of Sun, Oct 25Hoopsrumors reported September 29 that talks weren't serious, and no outlet has reported progress since the October 9 notes, even as Barrett scored 23 on October 23.
His extension was tied to Leonard and Shead in the October 1 notes, and no new word on a deal has come out since.
His October 3 listing as not injury related was never clarified, and he scored 9 against the Bulls on October 21.
He was moved from day-to-day to out on October 20 with a right foot/leg problem, days after being converted to a two-way deal.
Toronto rose from seventh to third in the East between October 22 and October 25 and has won both games it has played.
The projection
all 30 teams →The season depends most on Kawhi Leonard (17.6 wins without him), Scottie Barnes (8.5 wins without him), Jamal Shead (6.2 wins without him) and RJ Barrett (3.8 wins without him): on/off from 2026-27, details under Injuries. Computed Sun, Oct 25; the method is on the methods page.
The race
Eastern Conference · 80 games leftNext 5: at Timberwolves100%vs Magic0%vs Magic0%at Lakers100%at Clippers50%opponents win 50% of their games on average
Standings and games back are from the official table; the pace is the current record carried over 82 games, nothing more.
Day by day
35 days on the recordEarlier on the record31 more days · back to Mon, Sep 7
The franchise
Every season since the start →Public record →Nowupdated 2026-10-19
Darko Rajakovic is back for his fourth season as head coach, running a team built around the draft-night addition of Scottie Barnes in 2021 and the trade for Brandon Ingram last February, plus a core that includes Kawhi Leonard, Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, and Jakob Poeltl. Last season Toronto went 46-36, with a defense that ranked fifth in the league but an offense that ranked just 14th. The payroll sits at $202.5 million across 15 contracts, above the luxury tax line, with Leonard ($50.3M), Barnes ($41.8M), Quickley ($32.5M) and Barrett ($29.6M) as the four biggest numbers. Toronto holds its own first- and second-round picks in 2028 and 2029, plus a swap on its 2027 first, but owes its 2030 second to the Clippers. The bigger story of the summer was Kawhi Leonard: a potential trade back to the Clippers was agreed to on June 30, then put on hold while the NBA investigated the salary-cap circumstances around his original deal. The league concluded that investigation on September 2 with a $700,000 fine for Leonard, and on September 14 the trade sending him back to Toronto was finalized — followed immediately by a contract extension. Bobby Webster now runs basketball operations after Masai Ujiri was not re-signed following the 2025 Finals.
Identity and rivalries107 words
The Raptors built their identity on "We The North," a defiant, us-against-everyone attitude that only sharpened when the franchise became the first team outside the United States to win an NBA title, beating the Warriors in 2019 behind Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. That defensive-minded, physical style still shows up in a roster that finished fifth in defensive rank last season even while the offense lagged. The rivalries that matter are with the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, both Atlantic Division foes Toronto has battled in the playoffs going back to the franchise's earliest years, and both still carry real stakes in a crowded division race.
Home, owners and numbers69 words
The Raptors play at Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto, where the "We The North" Velociraptor City Edition look pays tribute to the team's dinosaur roots. Kyle Lowry's No. 7 is set to be retired there on January 10, 2027, and the NBA's league-wide retirement of Bill Russell's No. 6 also hangs in the rafters. The franchise's practice facility, the OVO Athletic Centre, has operated in Exhibition Place since 2016.
What they are chasing106 words
Toronto is chasing a return to real postseason relevance after a seven-game first-round exit to the Cleveland Cavaliers last spring, and chasing a second championship to go with the one it won in 2019. Fans argue over whether RJ Barrett will get a contract extension after talks reportedly weren't serious as of late September, and whether Jakob Poeltl's own extension situation, tied in trade chatter to Leonard and Jamal Shead, gets resolved before it becomes a distraction. With payroll already above the tax line, how the front office balances Leonard's new extension against the rest of the core is the open question hanging over the season.
The long view407 words
The Raptors were founded in 1995 as an NBA expansion team alongside the Vancouver Grizzlies, and have been the league's only Canadian club since the 2001-02 season, when the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference at Scotiabank Arena, shared with the Maple Leafs of the NHL. A group led by John Bitove paid a $125 million expansion fee in 1993, with partners Allan Slaight, the Bank of Nova Scotia, David Peterson and Phil Granovsky. The name Toronto Raptors was picked in 1994 from a fan contest, influenced by the film Jurassic Park, with colors of red, purple, black and "Naismith" silver, honoring basketball inventor James Naismith. Isiah Thomas was the first general manager.
The team went 21-61 in its debut season under point guard Damon Stoudamire, the seventh pick in 1995 and Rookie of the Year. Marcus Camby arrived as the second overall pick in 1996. In 1998, Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. (later Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment) bought the franchise for $467 million, and general manager Glen Grunwald traded Antawn Jamison for Vince Carter, who won Rookie of the Year in 1998-99.
Carter led Toronto to the playoffs in 2000, 2001 and 2002, including the franchise's first playoff series win in 2001 and a trip to the Eastern Conference semifinals. He was traded to the New Jersey Nets in 2004.
Chris Bosh then became the team's leader. Under general manager Bryan Colangelo, hired for 2006-07, and with 2006 first overall pick Andrea Bargnani, the Raptors won the Atlantic Division and reached the playoffs in 2007-08. Bosh left for the Miami Heat as a free agent in July 2010.
Masai Ujiri took over as general manager in 2013 and built a consistent playoff team around guards DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, winning five Division titles and posting the franchise's best regular season in 2018. After that year's playoffs, Ujiri fired coach Dwane Casey and traded DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, later adding Marc Gasol at the deadline. Forward Pascal Siakam, the 27th pick in 2016, won the Most Improved Player award. In 2019, the Raptors won their first Eastern Conference title and their first NBA championship, beating the Golden State Warriors in the Finals.
Leonard left in free agency after the title, Lowry was traded in 2021, and Siakam was dealt to the Indiana Pacers in 2024, leaving Scottie Barnes as the new face of the franchise.