It would have taken a lot of bad luck for the Raptors to fall hard from their ambitious goals this season and end up mirroring their disappointing 30-52 record from last year.
Although the 2025-26 season hit some rough patches — mainly due to concerning injuries to key players like Jakob Poeltl and RJ Barrett, glaring depth issues, closing out late-games, and their struggles against top competition — I think most fans would still view this season as a win. Of course, we can nitpick what we’d like the Raptors to change. While that’s a valid way of looking at things, it’s still worth giving credit where it’s due.
After Toronto secured an impressive 139-109 blowout victory over the Chicago Bulls in their last game, they notched their 20th road win of the season. Overall, the Raptors are nearly split on wins at home and on the road, with 19 wins at Scotiabank Arena and 20 on the road. This brings their season record to 39-29, with a 19-16 mark on home soil and a 20-13 away record.
Raptors proving their strength on the road is one of the season’s top highlights
Now, let's compare that to the Raptors' underwhelming records in the past two seasons. In the 2024-25 campaign, Toronto finished with an 18-23 record at home and a 12-29 mark on the road. During the 2023-24 season, the Raptors went 14-27 at home and 11-30 in away games.
If we add up those wins on the road, it totals just 23 away games won, which the Raptors are currently on pace to beat in just one season. Of course, the overall competitive effort from the Raptors isn’t quite where it was in the past two years. But considering that NBA teams usually perform better at home than on the road, it’s been a real surprise to see Toronto emerge as Road Warriors (OH, WHAT A RUSH! *Shout out, if you get that reference), despite all the weak points keen Raptors watchers might otherwise point out.
On the flip side, the Raptors' struggles at home seem to be a challenge they've been working to overcome — a 19-16 record isn't exactly horrible but it could be better. That said, I still believe it's just as impactful to dominate in enemy territory as it is to maximize homecourt advantage. My Raptors Rapture colleague Elaine Blum just emphasized how crucial this ability could be during the playoffs. Toronto has already shown this strong skill in the regular season, but as she pointed out, translating that into the postseason is "an entirely different monster."
The Raptors are currently on a five-game trip to the West Coast. They’ve had success there before and secured arguably their best win of the year against the almighty Thunder back in January. If they can continue to build on this momentum with additional important victories on the road, especially against another powerhouse like the Denver Nuggets — that would be a huge boost for this team.
The blueprint has already been laid out, and as RJ Barrett recently pointed out, the Raptors just need to rally by maintaining the momentum, staying consistent, and making it a habit to play this way moving forward.