49 Fun Facts About Toronto Raptors

In 1946 the Toronto Huskies hosted which team in what became the first game in NBA history?

The New York Knicks, then the Knickerbockers, who won 68–66. The Huskies gave free tickets to any fan taller than their tallest player, George Nostrand, and still folded after a single season.

Which other Canadian city joined the NBA alongside Toronto as an expansion team in 1995?

Vancouver, whose Grizzlies lasted six seasons in British Columbia before moving to Memphis in 2001, which left Toronto as the league's only Canadian franchise.

What nearly cost Toronto its NBA franchise before the Raptors played a game?

Sports lottery. Ontario's Pro-Line took bets on NBA games, which the league would not allow, so the province had to drop basketball from its tickets for the next 15 years.

Why did the Raptors decide against reviving the Toronto Huskies name in 1994?

Any logo would resemble the Timberwolves', management reportedly decided, so the old name was dropped and a national contest held instead; its ten finalists included the Beavers, the Hogs and the Tarantulas.

Which Hall of Fame point guard was hired in 1994 to run the expansion Raptors' basketball operations?

Isiah Thomas. The Pistons great also bought a stake in the team, then cut his ties with it early in the third season and became a television commentator.

Which colour in the Raptors' original uniforms was named to honour the Canadian inventor of basketball?

'Naismith' silver. James Naismith was a Canadian, though he invented the game at a school in Massachusetts in 1891; his silver sat beside bright red, purple and black in the first Raptors colours.

Which point guard, booed by fans on draft night in 1995, went on to win Rookie of the Year for Toronto?

Damon Stoudamire, nicknamed 'Mighty Mouse', averaged 19 points and 9.3 assists as a rookie; the draft-night crowd had wanted UCLA's Ed O'Bannon.

Who was the Raptors' first pick in the 1995 expansion draft, only to refuse to report?

B. J. Armstrong, a sharpshooting guard with three championship rings, never played for Toronto; he was traded to Golden State for Carlos Rogers, Victor Alexander and other pieces.

Where did the Raptors play their home games before the Air Canada Centre opened in 1999?

SkyDome. The baseball stadium was meant as a two-season stopgap while an arena was built, but the Raptors were still playing there in their fourth season when the Air Canada Centre finally opened.

Vince Carter came to Toronto in a 1998 draft-day trade for which fourth overall pick?

Antawn Jamison went fourth to Toronto and was swapped for Vince Carter, taken fifth by Golden State; the two had been teammates at North Carolina.

Vince Carter's last-second miss ended the Raptors' 2001 playoffs hours after he did what that morning?

Attended his university graduation. Carter went to the ceremony at North Carolina that morning, scored 20 points on 6-for-18 shooting that night, and saw his potential series-winner roll off the rim.

In 2004 the Raptors traded Vince Carter to which team?

The New Jersey Nets, who sent back Alonzo Mourning, two forwards and two first-round picks. Mourning never reported to Toronto, and Carter's Nets knocked the Raptors out of the 2007 playoffs.

Which future Hall of Famer did the Raptors draft fourth overall in 2003?

Chris Bosh, taken one pick after Carmelo Anthony. He made five All-Star teams in Toronto and reached the Hall of Fame in 2021, although blood clots had ended his career at 31.

Who was the Raptors' 2006 first overall pick, the first European ever taken number one?

Andrea Bargnani, an Italian forward from Benetton Treviso. He never became an All-Star, but the first-round pick Toronto got for him in 2013 turned into Jakob Pöltl, later part of the trade for Kawhi Leonard.

Which GM, hired in 2013, built the Raptors team that won the 2019 NBA title?

Masai Ujiri. His first moves were to trade away two of the team's biggest names, which was expected to sink the season; the Raptors won a then-record 48 games instead.

Lowry arrived from Houston in 2012 after which free agent picked the Lakers over Toronto?

Steve Nash chose the Lakers in July 2012; days later Toronto sent Houston a future first-round pick for Kyle Lowry, who became a six-time All-Star with the Raptors.

Before 2018, Vince Carter shared the Raptors' 51-point scoring record with which player?

Terrence Ross, who matched Carter's 51 in January 2014 with ten three-pointers, in a game Toronto lost. The record fell on New Year's Day 2018 to a 52-point night in overtime.

The Raptors were the opponents when which player scored 81 points in a game in January 2006?

Kobe Bryant. Toronto led the Lakers by 18 points in the third quarter before his 81, then the second-highest total in NBA history behind Wilt Chamberlain's 100, turned the game around.

Whom did the Raptors trade to San Antonio in July 2018 for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green?

DeMar DeRozan, the franchise's all-time leading scorer, went with Jakob Pöltl and a first-round pick. In return Toronto got a star with one year left on his contract, a gamble repaid with the 2019 title.

Kawhi Leonard's bouncing shot against Philadelphia in 2019 was the first buzzer-beater ever to win which kind of NBA playoff game?

A Game 7. Leonard's jumper from the corner bounced four times on the rim before dropping at the horn, and Toronto won 92–90 to reach the conference finals.

The Raptors trailed which team 0–2 in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals before winning four straight?

The Milwaukee Bucks, who had finished with the best record in the league. Toronto lost twice in Milwaukee, then won four in a row to reach the NBA Finals for the first time.

Who did the Raptors beat 4–2 in the 2019 NBA Finals for their first championship?

The Golden State Warriors, two-time defending champions. They lost Kevin Durant to a torn Achilles in Game 5 and Klay Thompson to a knee injury in Game 6, the night Toronto clinched in Oakland.

Kawhi Leonard left Toronto after one season to sign with which team?

Leonard signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in July 2019, joining Paul George; the fear that he was a one-year rental had hung over the whole championship season.

Pascal Siakam won which NBA award in 2019, days after the Raptors won the title?

Most Improved Player. A reserve the season before, Siakam started 79 games and more than doubled his scoring, from 7.3 points a game to 16.9.

Fred VanVleet, who went undrafted in 2016 and became an NBA champion in 2019, played college ball where?

Wichita State, where he reached the 2013 Final Four as a freshman reserve. Passed over by all thirty teams on draft night, he signed a four-year, $85 million contract in 2020 and became an All-Star in 2022.

Where did the Raptors play their 'home' games during the 2020–21 season?

Tampa, Florida. Canada's pandemic border rules shut the Raptors out of Toronto, so they spent the whole season in the arena of hockey's Tampa Bay Lightning and missed the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

Which Florida State forward, drafted fourth overall in 2021, was the 2022 NBA Rookie of the Year?

Scottie Barnes, who edged Cleveland's Evan Mobley by just 15 voting points. Two years later Toronto traded away its veteran stars, rebuilt around him, and saw him make his first All-Star team.

Which former Grizzlies assistant replaced Nick Nurse as head coach in June 2023?

Darko Rajaković, a Serbian who had been an assistant in Memphis, took over in June 2023 after Nurse and his staff were fired following a play-in defeat.

Which forward did the Raptors get from New Orleans in February 2025 for Olynyk, Bruce Brown and a first-round pick?

Brandon Ingram, a former All-Star, who signed a three-year extension within a week of arriving. Nineteen months later he was traded away in the deal that brought Kawhi Leonard back to Toronto.

Which centre did the Raptors acquire from Memphis at the 2019 trade deadline?

Marc Gasol, a former Defensive Player of the Year. He had been in Memphis since 2008, when the Grizzlies got his draft rights in the very trade that sent his older brother Pau to the Lakers.

Which Toronto rapper's record label inspired an alternate Raptors road uniform?

Drake. The Raptors made the rapper their global ambassador in 2013, put his label on an alternate uniform, and went on to rename their practice facility the OVO Athletic Centre.

Which slogan did the Raptors launch for their 2014 playoff run?

We The North. The agency Sid Lee built it on fans' sense of being outsiders in an American league, and the launch was brought forward so that it could air during the 2014 playoffs.

Which company bought the Raptors and their unfinished arena in February 1998?

Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd., owner of hockey's Maple Leafs. It bought the team and the half-built Air Canada Centre from Allan Slaight, moved both clubs in, and renamed itself Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

Which event at the 2000 All-Star Weekend did the Raptors' Vince Carter win?

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Carter won it in Oakland with a 360 windmill and an elbow-in-the-rim dunk, and the Raptors made the playoffs three years running from 2000.

Which team did the expansion Raptors upset 109–108 in March 1996?

The Chicago Bulls, who lost only ten games all season and won a then-record 72. The Raptors, winners of just 21 themselves, beat Michael Jordan's team at home.

Which 18-year-old rookie on the 1997–98 Raptors went on to star for Orlando and Houston?

Tracy McGrady, drafted ninth straight from high school. He was a cousin of teammate Vince Carter, and he left for Orlando in 2000 just as Toronto had become a playoff team.

Which veteran did the Raptors get from the Knicks in 1998 for Marcus Camby to add playoff experience?

Charles Oakley, the Knicks' bruising forward, came with Sean Marks for Marcus Camby in June 1998 and anchored Butch Carter's first playoff team in 2000.

What nickname do fans give the square outside the Raptors' arena where crowds watch playoff games?

Jurassic Park, after the 1993 film whose popularity helped Toronto's team get its name. Television shots of the packed square have been a fixture of NBA playoff broadcasts since 2014.

Which Raptors coach was fired in May 2018 and named NBA Coach of the Year weeks later?

Dwane Casey. His team had just won a franchise-record 59 games, but a second straight playoff sweep by LeBron James's Cavaliers cost him the job before the award was even announced.

In 2016 Toronto became the first city outside the United States to host which NBA event?

The All-Star Game. Toronto had already staged the NBA Draft, back in 1995, and Finals games would follow in 2019, but no All-Star Game had ever left American soil before.

Nick Nurse was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2020 after the Raptors posted what?

Their best-ever winning percentage. They won 53 of 72 games in a season cut short by the pandemic, a .736 mark, in the first year after Kawhi Leonard had walked away.

Which long-time Detroit Pistons assistant was named the Raptors' first head coach?

Brendan Malone. He was replaced after a single 21–61 season; his son Michael later coached the Denver Nuggets to the 2023 NBA title.

Which Hall of Fame coach replaced Butch Carter on the Raptors bench before the 2000-01 season?

Lenny Wilkens, then the NBA's all-time wins leader, took over in June 2000 and coached Toronto to its first playoff series win in 2001.

Which former NBA MVP centre joined the Raptors in the summer of 2001 to support Vince Carter?

Hakeem Olajuwon. He posted career lows in his one Toronto season, Carter's knee injury ended his year early, and the team lost 13 straight before rallying into the playoffs.

Which Raptors rookie scored 48 points against Milwaukee in 2005-06, a franchise rookie record?

Charlie Villanueva, the seventh pick in 2005. His 48 points came in an overtime defeat, and he finished second to Chris Paul in the Rookie of the Year voting.

The Raptors' G League affiliate, Raptors 905, takes its number from what?

A Mississauga area code. 905 is local shorthand for the suburbs that ring Toronto, which is where the team was placed when the Raptors bought a development-league franchise in 2015.

Which coach led the Raptors to their first Atlantic Division title in 2006–07?

Sam Mitchell. A jump from 27 wins to 47 made him the first Raptors coach to be named NBA Coach of the Year, yet he was fired 17 games into the season after next.

Which executive, fresh from building Phoenix into a 62-win team, became Raptors GM in February 2006?

Bryan Colangelo, the 2004–05 NBA Executive of the Year, left the Suns in February 2006 and overhauled the roster for Toronto's first division title in 2006–07.

Which Lithuanian centre did the Raptors draft fifth overall in 2011?

Jonas Valančiūnas, the fifth pick in 2011. He was 19 and under contract to Lietuvos rytas, so Toronto waited a year for him; he arrived in 2012 and made the All-Rookie second team.