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With a tumultuous season behind them, the Toronto Raptors are officially looking forward to a new season.
Toronto fired head coach Nick Nurse and replaced him with Darko Rajaković ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. Point guard Fred VanVleet also signed with the Houston Rockets, then traded notable names like Pascal Siakam (Indiana Pacers) and OG Anunoby (New York Knicks) during the season.
The result was a 25-57 record, which was only the second time since the 2012-13 season that the Raptors finished with a losing record.
While there weren’t many big additions this offseason, Toronto is hoping the continuity of some of the key pieces acquired last season will pay off in 2024-25. Here’s a look at the schedule it’ll have to follow next campaign.
Raptors 2024-25 schedule details
Season opening: Wednesday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers
Championship odds: +100000 (bet $100 to win $100,000), by FanDuel
Full program: The full program is available on NBA.com.
The Knicks and Raptors will be connected throughout the season.
While New York is focused on the Boston Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers, the connection to Toronto goes back to last season’s trade. The Raptors sent Anunoby to the Big Apple in a deal that saw them acquire RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.
Any success from these players will draw the attention of fans of their former teams, and the head-to-head matchups in particular will stand out when Barrett and Anunoby face off.
From a broader Eastern Conference perspective, these games can also serve as a benchmark for the Raptors. They likely won’t be battling for a top-four seed in the conference, but winning head-to-head matchups against some of the league’s best teams can give them confidence and a boost in their own playoff race.
If Toronto can hold its own against tough opponents like the Knicks, it could provide the separation needed in potential battles with the Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat or others in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spots and play-in tournament berths.
And it would surely be good news for Barrett and Quickley to defeat their former team.
The Hawks earned the final Eastern Conference playoff spot last season, which is a reasonable target for Toronto in 2024-25.
It would be quite a jump for the Raptors since they finished 11 games behind Atlanta in 2023-24, but the Hawks no longer have Dejounte Murray after trading him to the New Orleans Pelicans this offseason.
It also wouldn’t be surprising to see Toronto play more cohesively, with an entire offseason allowing Barrett, Scottie Barnes, Bruce Brown, Quickley and others to get used to playing side by side.
There were a lot of upheavals in the squad over the past season, so even the continuity that was lacking before can lead to further improvements.
If that improvement is to lead to at least a spot in the play-in tournament, it may take a few head-to-head wins against the Hawks. Trae Young and company have lost in either the first round or the play-in tournament in each of the last three seasons, which is exactly the type of team the Raptors should be looking to overtake in 2024-25.
And winning these competitions would go a long way towards achieving that.
There are a few pieces in place for the Raptors.
Barnes is the face of the franchise and ideally should improve at age 23 after appearing in his first career All-Star Game last season. reward gave him a max contract extension this offseason, and he should be a double-double machine next campaign.
Yet there aren’t really many stars around him.
Barrett has taken on a larger scoring role in Toronto and will help the team improve its record by playing a full season, but Brown, Quickley, Kelly Olynyk and Jakob Poeltl are solid but unspectacular role players.
Perhaps new acquisition Davion Mitchell will provide a significant boost on both ends of the floor for the secondary. Gradey Dick is also a candidate to make strides in his second season in the league.
Given the accumulation of pieces and the chance to have a full season from Barrett with more continuity on the roster, improvement will come for the Raptors.
But this improvement will not be enough to qualify for the playoffs.
