TORONTO – So far, the NBA playoffs have not disappointed.

Surprising upsets, massive comebacks, iconic performances, and game-winning plays on both ends of the floor… and for the fourth time in five years, the Toronto Raptors can only watch from home. But if everything goes according to plan, that is about to change.

With their young core under contract and the addition of a (presumably) healthy Brandon Ingram, this is a team that figures to make a jump next season. At minimum, a spot in the play-in tournament should be within reach. If everything falls into place, maybe a top-six seed in the Eastern Conference. But where to from there? Incremental growth is the plan in the short-term – they’ve only just graduated from the early stages of a rebuild, after all. But the long-term vision hasn’t changed. They’ve made that clear.

“Our goal is not Play-In, not playoffs, the end goal is to win a championship,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri said just a few days after his club closed the book on the 2024-25 campaign. He used the word championship nine times during his 45-minute press conference.

“That’s why all these teams play, and that’s our goal. So, whatever jump we can make, honestly, we feel like this is our jobs. We need to put the team in this position.”

When was the last time a team won the title without a generational star at the top of its roster? You probably need to go all the way back to the 2004 Detroit Pistons. Having a top-five calibre player is basically a prerequisite to compete on that level. Unless Scottie Barnes blossoms into a bona fide superstar or the Raptors can get their hands on that type of player elsewhere (if the Milwaukee Bucks decide to make

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