Such is the volatility of the NBA, eh, folks?
It feels like just yesterday, I was looking at the Raptors' rough start to the 2025-26 season, where head coach Darko Rajakovic and his staff were undoubtedly on the hot seat if Toronto couldn't turn things around ASAP. Now here we are near the end of a near unblemished November for the Raptors, where they've compiled an 8-1 record to date. It’s a complete 180-degree flip on those discussions, even if their level of competition has been considered "easy" in a sense.
And while the strong contributions from key players like Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, and RJ Barrett have been the main focus, Darko Rajakovic deserves credit as the person behind the overall approach that has led to this winning way of playing so far. People will still have their reservations about Rajakovic's coaching style, and I’ll certainly find myself questioning some of his sets or schemes at times, but nonetheless, he will undoubtedly be the topic of conversation if Toronto can continue to hang on to their impressive winning ways.
I touched upon this same subject a while back when Raptors reporter Es Baraheni mentioned Rajakovic's name as a pre-season prediction for Coach of the Year, describing his "clear path" to that status if the right circumstances fall into place for Toronto. Well, I think with the 15-game sample to date, it provides more than enough evidence to support those claims, and another NBA analyst, Zach Lowe, has weighed in on Rajakovic's growing case.
Darko Rajakovic easily in the COTY mix, if Raptors keep outperforming
Like what Baraheni mentioned about Rajakovic's ability to run a good offensive system (and that has definitely been the case so far), and to foster a sense of grit and hunger in his young players (also evident with recent success out of Ja'Kobe Walter and Gradey Dick), Lowe's input shares a similar sentiment (YouTube link here):
"... Darko Rajakovic. Early-season Coach of the Year candidate for how this team is playing. They look like a team, every year there's one or two teams like this, where there's this feedback loop of "Alright, we all gotta buy into playing a little bit differently, a little bit out of our comfort zones, maybe we have some reservations about that, maybe we don't?" And then, when we start winning, and the feedback loop kicks in like, "Oh, this works? The buzz is building. All boats are lifted by winning. I'm gonna lean more into playing this way." ... This whole team is flying around on defense. They're completely bought in. They're making teams go late into the clock by running them off the three-point line."Zach Lowe, No
Perhaps we shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves based on just this hot stretch, and should give it a bit more time to brew before making any definitive judgments. But it's certainly a positive trajectory as things currently stand, and it's up to Darko Rajakovic to continue leading his ambitious Raps squad toward a path that surpasses their measly 30-52 record last year — even with the doubters still going strong.