The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games at Scotiabank Arena, which it shares with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team was founded in 1995 as part of the NBA's expansion into Canada, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies. Since the 2001–02 season, the Raptors have been the only Canadian-based team in the league, as the Grizzlies relocated from Vancouver to Memphis, Tennessee.
The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Its current 11 full members are located in four Northeastern states: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland. It was announced on October 23, 2023 that Sacred Heart University and Merrimack College will join the conference beginning in the 2024-25 season.
CJCL is a Canadian sports radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned and operated by Rogers Radio, a division of Rogers Sports & Media since 2002, CJCL's studios are located at the Rogers Building at Bloor and Jarvis in downtown Toronto, while its transmitters are located near Grimsby atop the Niagara Escarpment. It is the flagship station for the Toronto Blue Jays, and also airs games from the Toronto Raptors, Toronto Maple Leafs, Buffalo Bisons and Buffalo Bills. CJCL is also a CBS Sports Radio affiliate.
Morris Russell Peterson Jr. is an American former professional basketball player who played eleven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Michigan State University, where in the 1999–2000 season he led the Spartans to the national title as Big Ten Player of the Year.
NBA TV Canada is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). It is the Canadian version of NBA TV, broadcasting programming focused on the National Basketball Association, and its Canadian franchise, the Toronto Raptors.
Alvin Leon Williams Jr. is an American former professional basketball player who played for Villanova University and in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1997 to 2007.
Matthew Robert Bonner, also known as the Red Rocket or Red Mamba, is an American former professional basketball player. Bonner played college basketball for the University of Florida before being selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 45th overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft. During his career Bonner played for the Toronto Raptors and the San Antonio Spurs with whom he won two NBA championships.
Chuck Swirsky is an American–Canadian radio sports announcer. He is the play-by-play voice of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Swirsky's association with Chicago sports started in 1979 with his WCFL AM 1000 talk show, which debuted on August 27 of that year. Outside Chicago, Swirsky called play-by-play for both University of Michigan basketball and football and was formerly the play-by-play voice of the Toronto Raptors.
Leo Rytis Rautins is a Canadian broadcaster, former professional basketball player and the former head coach of the Canadian men's national basketball team. Rautins played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) drafted in the first round of the 1983 NBA draft, by the Philadelphia 76ers. Rautins' NBA career was waylaid by injury. After a brief retirement, Rautins returned to basketball and played in European professional leagues from 1985 until 1992. He has been a broadcaster for the Toronto Raptors since the team's inception in 1995.
Mark Vernon Jones is a Canadian sportscaster for ABC and ESPN and the primary play-by-play announcer for Sacramento Kings games on NBC Sports California. Jones has been a member of the ESPN broadcasting family since 1990. Before then Jones worked for The Sports Network (TSN) in Canada. He mostly works college football and NBA games on ABC and ESPN.
Howard James "Jay" Triano is a Canadian basketball coach and former professional player, who is currently an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He previously served as the head coach of the NBA's Toronto Raptors and the interim head coach of the Phoenix Suns. A former Canadian national team player who competed in two Olympics, he has also had two stints as head coach of the national team.
Matt Devlin is a play-by-play TV announcer currently employed mainly by the Toronto Raptors of the NBA, having replaced Chuck Swirsky in 2008. His current on-air colour commentator partners are Alvin Williams and Jack Armstrong.
The 1995–96 NBA season was the Toronto Raptors' first season in the National Basketball Association. The Raptors, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, played their first games in 1995, and were the first NBA teams to play in Canada since the 1946–47 Toronto Huskies. Retired All-Star point guard and former Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas became the team's General Manager. The Raptors revealed a new primary logo of a dinosaur playing basketball, and got new pinstripe uniforms with the logo on the front of their jerseys, adding purple and red to their color scheme.
Paul Jones is a Canadian sportscaster. He previously served as the colour analyst on Raptors radio broadcasts, a role he had during the Raptors' inaugural season in 1995, with play-by-play man Mike Inglis on CFRB 1010. Currently, he serves as the Raptors' radio play-by-play announcer on Fan 590, alongside colour analyst Eric Smith.
The 1995 NBA Expansion Draft was the tenth expansion draft in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 24, 1995, so that the newly founded Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies could acquire players for the upcoming 1995–96 season. Toronto was awarded an expansion team on September 30, 1993, while Vancouver was awarded the league's 29th franchise on April 27, 1994. They were the first NBA teams based in Canada since the 1946–47 season Toronto Huskies.
David Amber is a Canadian anchor for Sportsnet as a host and reporter. He is best known for his time doing NHL On the Fly on the NHL Network and as the anchor for Gate 5 Live, Raptors Pregame, and Raptors Post Up on NBA TV Canada. He had been an anchor and reporter for ESPN and its family of networks.
The Naismith Cup was an annual pre-season National Basketball Association (NBA) exhibition game. From the 1995 season through 2000, it was played between the two Canadian NBA rivals, the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies, at neutral venues across Canada. The cup was named after James Naismith, the Canadian inventor of basketball, and was originally created to raise money for Canada Basketball, similar to the Pearson Cup competition between Canada's Major League Baseball teams the Toronto Blue Jays and Montreal Expos. Following the Grizzlies relocation to Memphis the cup was laid dead, though the Raptors continued the tradition of hosting neutral site pre-season games in Canadian cities under the NBA Canada Series name. The Raptors won the series against Vancouver 4–1.
Masai Michael Ujiri is a British-born Nigerian-Canadian professional basketball executive and former player who is the president of the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Brian Patrick Heaney is a former American professional basketball player and coach. He spent one season in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Baltimore Bullets during the 1969–70 season.
The 2019 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2018–19 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In the best-of-seven playoff series held from May 30 through June 13, 2019, the Eastern Conference champion Toronto Raptors defeated the two-time defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, , earning the franchise its first NBA championship as well as the first win by an NBA team based outside the United States. Acquired by the Raptors via a trade during the off-season, Kawhi Leonard was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the second time in his career.
