It wasn’t easy, but the Raptors punched their ticket to the playoffs with a fifth-place finish. They will head into a first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers and can already put this season down as a success.
Making the playoffs is a big step, but it doesn’t mean that the Raptors are done with their rebuild. The team still has room to grow and improve and work to do to build more than “just” a lower-seeded playoff team. The playoffs will shine a light on what the roster lacks, who is ready for the big moments, and who still needs some time to grow.
After the Raptors’ 136-101 win over the Brooklyn Nets, head coach Darko Rajaković spoke on the importance of playing meaningful games to close out the season and moving on to the postseason.
“All of those games, they’re allowing players, coaches, all of us to grow,” Rajaković said. “The playoffs are going to be another step for us, for many young players to learn the intensity and attention to detail, and how much every possession matters in the playoffs. I think it’s going to help us tremendously in growing this roster.”
The playoffs will reveal a lot about the Raptors’ current roster
This will be the Raptors’ first playoff series with their core of Scottie Barnes, Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, and Immanuel Quickley. All of them have been to the playoffs—Barnes played four games in 2022, Ingram went to the playoffs twice with the Pelicans in 2022 and 2024, and Barrett and Quickley got some postseason experience with the Knicks in 2021 and 2023—but never together and not in a while.
For some players, like Collin Murray-Boyles, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Jamal Shead, this will be their first trip to the playoffs altogether. It can be quite the adjustment to go from the regular season to a physical best-of-seven series against one of the top teams in the league.
This trip to the playoffs also marks a first for Rajaković. He went to the playoffs with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Memphis Grizzlies as an assistant coach, but he has never been a head coach in the postseason.
The playoffs will be a learning experience for everyone involved with the team and will help reveal what the Raptors’ next steps in what may be a pivotal offseason should be. Not everyone on the roster is locked in as a part of the franchise’s future.