TORONTO – Scottie Barnes posed an issue before answering together with his thoughts.
“Successful? I don’t learn about successful, however it was a very good season for us.”
The Toronto Raptors’ two-time all-star and face of the franchise was considered one of several players who spoke throughout the team’s end-of-season availability Monday. The team was ousted in the primary round of the NBA playoffs after a 114-102 Game 7 loss to the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Sunday.
Barnes, who thought the team could’ve gone further, did acknowledge the positives from the season which saw the Raptors return to the post-season for the primary time since 2022.
“I felt like we went on the market each game and we just got higher,” he said. “Came upon more about ourselves after every single game and we worked really hard. … Didn’t leave nothing on the table. It felt like a solid season.”
Toronto was without start line guard Immanuel Quickley for the playoffs. All-star Brandon Ingram left Game 5 with an injury and missed the ultimate two games.
Ingram said the heel injury flared up in March but he stuck through it because the team was within the thick of a race to the playoffs. Nonetheless, the discomfort throughout the post-season was an excessive amount of for him.
Related Videos
The 28-year-old led the team with 21.5 points per game throughout the regular season.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox because it happens so you will not miss a trending story.
Meanwhile, Quickley strained his right hamstring within the regular-season finale April 12 and re-aggravated it while working his way back. When asked if he could’ve played within the second round had Toronto advanced, he said “it was somewhat bit more serious.”
Quickley added that “it’s somewhat early to say without delay,” as as to whether he’ll have a full off-season of coaching attributable to the injury. The 26-year-old averaged 16.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and a career-high 5.9 assists in 70 regular-season games.
The Raptors made a 16-win jump within the regular season, ending 46-36 to secure the fifth seed within the Eastern Conference.
“Obviously, all the time the top goal is to win a championship but I feel from where we were last yr till now has been an enormous, huge jump,” Canadian guard RJ Barrett said. “So it’s successful in that, but additionally because I feel which you could type of see just the work that’s put in and where we are able to go in the longer term. I feel the longer term may be very vivid for us and it’s only the start.”
Barrett was considered one of a handful of players who shined within the post-season for Toronto. He paced the team with averages of 24.1 points and seven.0 rebounds while shooting 47.7 per cent from the sphere and 38.6 per cent from three-point range.
“(I) think this was my most effective season to date, so just growing in that way, knowing tips on how to achieve success with less,” the Mississauga, Ont., native said. “You bought a man like Brandon Ingram into the combination attempting to play off of him and Scottie and Quick’s point guard so he has the ball lots. Just trying to seek out where I slot in on each side of the basketball.
” … I feel it’s a luxury that I even have, it’s the luxurious that we now have on this team to give you the chance to type of play positionless.”
Rookie Collin Murray-Boyles proved to be a helpful core piece, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Second-year guards Jamal Shead and Ja’Kobe Walter also shone in big spots with the team being undermanned.
“I feel they did an incredible job,” centre Jakob Poeltl said. “We could have easily, you recognize, just type of gave up within the series. We didn’t have Quick, we didn’t have BI for loads of the series. Even when he was playing, like he was all the time like combating his health somewhat bit.
” … Just about all of them is like their first playoff experiences on the market. And for them to step up in that manner is actually impressive. Just going on the market and playing our brand of basketball, not hiding from anything or anyone, just going out, they’re being aggressive. It was good to see, it fills me with confidence for the longer term.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press