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Toronto’s won 9-of-10 and plays only two good teams over its next nine games, which means the Raptors might be able to get comfortable on this perch.
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Published Nov 20, 2025 • 4 minute read
Gradey Dick of the Toronto Raptors dunks the ball during the first half against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.
Gradey Dick of the Toronto Raptors dunks the ball during the first half against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday. Getty Images
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Look up, way up, and you’ll find the Toronto Raptors (if you’re peering at the Eastern Conference standings).
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Wednesday’s impressive 121-112 road win in Philadelphia moved Darko Rajakovic’s 10-5 group all the way to second place in the conference, behind only the similarly-surging Detroit Pistons (13-2, with 11 straight victories).
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Toronto has won 9-of-10 and plays only two good teams over its next nine games, which means the Raptors might be able to get comfortable on this perch.
It has been a while. Toronto previously moved into the Top 3 in the East in December of 2019 (the season after winning the NBA title), claimed second place Jan. 26, 2020, and again Jan. 28, and held it the rest of the way (26 games, including the re-start of the season in the COVID Bubble in Florida).
To put this strong start into perspective, last year’s Raptors didn’t win a 10th game until Jan. 15., the season prior took until Dec. 13. They’re even a week ahead of the pace of the 2021-22 Raptors squad (Nick Nurse’s last), which finished .500 and then suffered through a dreadful play-in game collapse against the Chicago Bulls.
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The franchise is in a completely different place compared to the days of that most recent somewhat-competitive Raptors team.
Scottie Barnes was completing a second year in the NBA that had been a step back, team chemistry was poor, Fred VanVleet was about to walk in free agency and fellow stalwarts Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby would be gone too about half a season later. It felt like a window had closed.
But now the future is wide open. Barnes has been one of the best players in the NBA so far, Brandon Ingram has unlocked the offence, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl are rolling, and a young, talented, deep bench has mostly been clobbering opponents.
Ingram already is talking about using recent tight games as practice for the playoffs, while Barnes is taking a bit more of a cautious approach, but clearly believes in this team.
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“It’s great that we’re winning games, but keep staying humble, keep staying hungry, it’s only the beginning of the season,” Barnes said earlier this week.
“But, we’re really good, we’re really talented. People are going to keep continuing to see that.”
ON THE REBOUND
Quickley slumped offensively to start the season, but has been outstanding during this winning Raptors stretch. Quickley shot just 25% on three-point attempts, 39.1% from the field overall and 72% from the free-throw line in six October games.
But in nine November outings, he has knocked down a torrid 44.6% of his threes, 51.3% of his shots and 81.3% of his free-throw attempts.
He also has made a concerted effort to hit the boards aggressively, which helps a Raptors team that wants to get out and run do just that.
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Quickley’s 5.3 rebounds a game in November are the fifth-most he has averaged in a month in his NBA career and his most since March and April of 2023, when he was new to the Raptors and seemed to be picking up triple-doubles on the regular.
“I feel like I’ve been rebounding this year,” Quickley told Postmedia after his season-high 10 boards in a win over Charlotte earlier this week.
“It was a team emphasis, (the Hornets) have a lot of guys who offensive rebound, but honestly, just knowing whatever it takes to win, winning plays other than just offensively, you can affect the game,” Quickley said.
“Whether you’re shooting good, shooting bad, rebounding is one of the ways I try to affect the game.”
Quickley’s defensive rebound percentage (an estimate of the total available defensive rebounds he’s grabbing) is at the highest rate of his career other than his early time with the Raptors in 2023.
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WOEFUL WIZARDS, AGAIN
Toronto already has faced some awful teams this season, but the Wizards squad arriving Friday takes the cake so far. Washington has dropped 12 straight, is the only team with fewer than two wins overall, gives up the second-most points per 100 possessions and scores the third-fewest.
To make matters worse, the franchise’s lone bright spot, centre Alex Sarr — who was having a breakout sophomore campaign and has arguably been the second-best player from the 2024 class so far — missed his first game of the season Wednesday and is banged up.
Washington has missed the playoffs four straight years and in six of the past seven. Amazingly, the Wizards won one playoff series in the 1980s, none at all in the 1990s and just four in the 2000s.
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[Immanuel Quickley of the Toronto Raptors celebrates a three-pointer during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena on November 19, 2025 in Philadelphia.
Raptors win 5th straight, vault into 2nd place in East with huge third quarter vs. Sixers](https://torontosun.com/sports/basketball/nba/toronto-raptors/raptors-win-5th-straight-vault-into-2nd-place-in-east-with-huge-third-quarter-in-philly)
2. [Toronto Raptors forward Brandon Ingram (right) drives into Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges during the second half in Toronto on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025.
Raptors star Brandon Ingram says another level will come soon](https://torontosun.com/sports/basketball/nba/toronto-raptors/raptors-star-brandon-ingram-says-another-level-will-come-soon)
It has to smart their long-suffering fans that Toronto, with a championship win not too far off in the distance, already has completed a rapid two-year rebuild and looks like one of the better teams in the conference despite rarely picking near the top of the NBA’s lottery.
Washington got next to nothing out of the John Wall (first overall), Bradley Beal (third) and Otto Porter Jr. (third) era, and botched nearly all its lottery selections until the past two or three years, where new management has done a lot better.
Still, giving away Deni Avdija, who was a steal at No. 9 in 2020 and now looks like an all-star, for Bub Carrington — who has struggled mightily in the NBA — and some picks, looks really bad.
Wizards fans will once again be looking for lottery luck this spring, hoping a saviour emerges out of a stacked draft class.
The problem is they’ll have to sit through 68 more games first.
@WolstatSun
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