The 2025-26 NBA season is here! Over the next few weeks, we’re examining the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and win projections for all 30 franchises — from the still-rebuilding teams to the true title contenders.
2024-25 finish
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Record: 30-52 (11th in the East, missed playoffs)
Offseason moves
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Additions: Collin Murray-Boyles, Sandro Mamukelashvili
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Subtractions: Chris Boucher
(Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
The Big Question: What are the Raptors even doing?
For a while there in a post-championship haze it looked like the Raptors might embrace a traditional rebuild in the absence of Kawhi Leonard, tanking the 2020 season and scoring Scottie Barnes with the No. 4 overall pick. Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby all left from the rubble for little in return.
What the Raptors did get from the New York Knicks for Anunoby was RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, to whom Toronto has committed a combined $269.5 million. Along with Barnes and Jakob Poeltl, who are also owed a combined $306.3 million, Barrett and Quickley have formed the foundation of a team that has won a total of 55 games over the past two seasons. They are building toward the middle of the pack.
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So, last season they traded for an injured Brandon Ingram, leaning further into mediocrity. When healthy, Ingram is a very good player, even an All-Star at his best, but he does not move Toronto’s needle much closer to championship contention. And they paid him as if he did, giving Ingram a $120 million extension.
This team has talent. The ceiling of that talent is a team that can make the playoffs and compete in a first-round series. Beyond that, though, there are no lofty expectations for them this year and beyond.
A harsh take but a fair one. One could make the argument that each of their five highest-paid players is not worth his contract. If when combined they are still a middling team, they certainly are not meeting their value as one of the league’s 10 highest payrolls that is being paid to vie for a conference finals.
And what value do those players have on the trade market? It is hard to imagine a team believing it is a Barnes or Barrett or Ingram or Poeltl or Quickley away from a championship, especially at each price tag.
So, what are the Raptors doing? They have collected all this talent, letting good players walk for other players who have made them worse than they were when they were winning 50 games a year under Lowry and DeMar DeRozan’s stewardship. At least that team had reason to believe it was a piece away.
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This team does not have that. Toronto is several pieces away from relevancy, and it will be head coach Darko Rajaković’s job to convince his team otherwise. The NBA’s middle can be a dark place to be when one direction (the bottom) feels easier to attain than the other (the top). Rajaković must convince his charges that they are building toward something, not just the middle, even if intuition says otherwise.
Do not get this analysis wrong. There is the very real possibility that the Raptors are greater than the sum of their parts, as those Lowry and DeRozan teams often were, especially in this Eastern Conference. It is just that the greatest sum of those parts is still several levels away from championship contention.
Best-case scenario
Ingram remains healthy and drives the offense from the bottom of the rankings. Barnes’ development pushes the roster further forward, and everyone starts to believe in the ability of this group. Gradey Dick improves in his third season, and this year’s first-round draft pick, Collin Murray-Boyles, is a revelation. The Raptors compete for a guaranteed playoff spot, and fans can believe in the future of this team again.
If everything falls apart
Barnes’ development continues to stagnate. Ingram’s impact is not what Toronto pictured when it traded for him, and the pick they dealt for him — the Indiana Pacers’ first-round selection in 2026 — yields real value. Meanwhile, the Raptors are bad enough to make the lottery but too good to secure an elite pick. They are stuck in the NBA’s middle, and that is not even enough to emerge from the play-in tournament.
2025-26 schedule
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Season opener: Oct. 22 at Atlanta
Believe in Rajaković’s ability to hold this team together, as he coaches for his job. Take the over.
More season previews
East: Atlanta Hawks • Boston Celtics • Brooklyn Nets • Charlotte Hornets • Chicago Bulls • Cleveland Cavaliers • Detroit Pistons • Indiana Pacers • Miami Heat • Milwaukee Bucks • New York Knicks • Orlando Magic • Philadelphia 76ers • Toronto Raptors • Washington Wizards
West: Dallas Mavericks • Denver Nuggets • Golden State Warriors • Houston Rockets • Los Angeles Clippers • Los Angeles Lakers • Memphis Grizzlies • Minnesota Timberwolves • New Orleans Pelicans • Oklahoma City Thunder • Phoenix Suns • Portland Trail Blazers • Sacramento Kings • San Antonio Spurs • Utah Jazz
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