{"id":316786,"date":"2026-04-11T05:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T23:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=316786"},"modified":"2026-04-11T05:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T23:31:16","slug":"raptors-on-cusp-of-returning-to-nba-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/11\/raptors-on-cusp-of-returning-to-nba-playoffs\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors on cusp of returning to NBA playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>So far as Darko Rajakovic is anxious, the strain of not knowing if his Toronto Raptors will reach the NBA playoffs or stumble into the play-in tournament this weekend is \u201cthe great thing about the job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Raptors visited the Recent York Knicks on Friday and can host the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday in the ultimate two games of the regular season, with a win in either game clinching Toronto\u2019s first playoff berth in 4 years. If the Raptors lose each games, they\u2019ll have an extended path to the playoffs, having to advance through the four-team play-in tournament.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is what we signed up for, and this could be very, very exciting for our coaching staff, our team, for the town of Toronto, for our fans,\u201d said Rajakovic at practice on Wednesday. \u201cJust the trail that we had within the last two years, in my three years coaching here, just being ready to plan, to fight for something, to fight for a playoff, to fight for seeding, and all of that could be very, very meaningful.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"l-article__part\" data-shortcode=\"related_videos\">\n<div class=\"l-inlineStories l-inlineStories--video\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"l-inlineStories__title\">Related Videos<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<section id=\"miniplayer-carousel\" class=\"l-videoCarousel l-videoCarousel--embed c-carousel\" data-video-carousel-play-inline=\"true\" data-video-carousel-init=\"false\" aria-label=\"Video carousel contains 10 videos.\">\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__inner\">\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__featured\">\n<div class=\"c-video c-videoPlay \" data-iframe-receiver=\"\" data-autoplay=\"\" data-displayinline-featured=\"true\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-player-id=\"miniplayer\" data-displayinline-video-id=\"11736470\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/playlist\/11736470,11520120,11519608,11499192,11272226,11267415,11265148,11264380,11194605,11009057\/?poster=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fmedia.globalnews.ca%2Fvideostatic%2Fnews%2Fi1cz8nprrt-1lb2c4wke3%2FRAPTORS_FAN_DAY_VMS.jpg%3Fw%3D1200%26quality%3D70%26strip%3Dall#autoplay&#038;stickyiframe=miniplayer\" data-displayinline-playlist=\"11736470,11520120,11519608,11499192,11272226,11267415,11265148,11264380,11194605,11009057\" data-displayinline-sticky=\"true\" data-permutive-data='{\"content\":{\"name\":\"Toronto Raptors hold annual March break fan day at Scotiabank Arena\",\"type\":\"video\",\"sections\":[\"videos\",\"barrie\",\"durham\",\"guelph\",\"hamilton\",\"kingston\",\"kitchener\",\"london\",\"national\",\"ottawa\",\"peterborough\",\"toronto\",\"canada\",\"sports\"],\"keywords\":[\"acc\",\"basketballs\",\"canadian-tire\",\"good-news\",\"jurassic-park\",\"nba\",\"nba-fan-days\",\"ontario\",\"raps\",\"raptors\",\"raptors-fan-day\",\"scotiabank-arena\",\"short-clip\",\"toronto-raptors\"],\"iab\":{\"categories\":[\"Sports\/Team Sports\/Basketball\",\"News\",\"Sports\",\"News\/Sports News\",\"Sports\/Team Sports\"],\"tags\":[\"A. J. Lawson\",\"Alijah Martin\",\"Atlanta\",\"Atlanta Hawks\",\"Basketball\",\"Boston Celtics\",\"Brampton\",\"Brooklyn\",\"Brooklyn Nets\",\"Charlotte Hornets\",\"Charlotte, North Carolina\",\"Cleveland Cavaliers\",\"Darko Rajakoviu0107\",\"Detroit Pistons\",\"Eastern Conference (NBA)\",\"Foot\",\"Gunna (rapper)\",\"Immanuel Quickley\",\"Miami\",\"Miami Heat\",\"National Basketball Association\",\"NBA Play-In Tournament\",\"NBA playoffs\",\"Neck\",\"New York City\",\"New York Knicks\",\"Orlando Magic\",\"Pain\",\"Philadelphia 76ers\",\"Plantar fasciitis\",\"Playoffs\",\"Point guard\",\"Sandro Mamukelashvili\",\"Scottie Barnes\",\"Seed\",\"The Canadian Press\",\"Toronto\",\"Toronto Raptors\",\"Tournament\",\"Tyreke Key\"]}}}'>\n<div class=\"c-video__inner \">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__placeholder\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Toronto Raptors hold annual March break fan day at Scotiabank Arena'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/news\/i1cz8nprrt-1lb2c4wke3\/RAPTORS_FAN_DAY_VMS.jpg?w=1040&#038;quality=70&#038;strip=all\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"auto, \" data-sizes=\"(min-width: 1040px) 1040px,(min-width: 720px) 720px,450px\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__overlay\"><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"c-video__duration\">1:08<\/time><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__title\">Toronto Raptors hold annual March break fan day at Scotiabank Arena<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"l-videoCarousel__glide glide \">\n<div class=\"glide__arrows c-carousel__buttons l-videoCarousel__buttons\" data-glide-el=\"controls\">\n\t<button class=\"glide__arrow glide__arrow--left c-carousel__button c-carousel__prev l-videoCarousel__button l-videoCarousel__prev c-longform-gallery__prev\" data-glide-dir=\"<\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\">Previous Video<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t<button class=\"glide__arrow glide__arrow--right c-carousel__button c-carousel__next l-videoCarousel__button l-videoCarousel__next c-longform-gallery__next\" data-glide-dir=\">&#8220;><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<span class=\"sr-only\">Next Video<\/span><br \/>\n\t<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t<button class=\"c-carousel__goto\" data-glide-dir=\"=0\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><\/button>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\t\t<!-- video stream item --><\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI feel it\u2019s helping with the event of our players, of our roster.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup\" data-newsletter-inline=\"\">\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/shaw-globalnews\/images\/skyline\/national.jpg\" alt=\"Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you'll never miss the day's top stories.\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__content\">\n<h2 class=\"c-inlineSignup__title\">Get each day National news<\/h2>\n<p>Get each day Canada news delivered to your inbox so you may never miss the day&#8217;s top stories.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Raptors were without two key pieces in Recent York as place to begin guard Immanuel Quickley (plantar fasciitis, right foot) and rookie centre Collin Murray-Boyles (neck strain) were ruled out hours before tip-off.<\/p>\n<p>Each played hurt in back-to-back wins over the Miami Heat in Toronto on Tuesday and Thursday. Rajakovic appreciated them playing through the pain, especially Quickley, who he said had a positive impact on the complete roster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe allows everybody to go to their roles that they were developing through the whole season. Guys prefer to play with him. He provides lots of spacing, opens up the ground.<\/p>\n<p>Toronto also waived guard Tyreke Key on Friday, although he never actually played any minutes with the NBA club. The transaction will allow the Raptors to convert either Alijah Martin or AJ Lawson of Brampton, Ont., from a two-way deal to a regular NBA contract by Sunday, making that player playoff eligible.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, Recent York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers have all locked up playoff spots within the Eastern Conference, with Detroit clinching the highest seed. The Raptors (45-35) were fifth entering play Friday, tied with Atlanta but ahead of the Hawks on tiebreakers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-tabs\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab c-tabs__tab--active\" type=\"button\">More on Sports<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab\" type=\"button\">More videos<\/button>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>After the 2 losses in Toronto, Miami is locked into the play-in for a fourth consecutive yr. Entering Friday, the opposite three teams in the sphere were the Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic and Charlotte Hornets.<\/p>\n<p>The Raptors haven\u2019t been within the playoffs because the 2021-22 season, once they lost to the Sixers in the primary round.<\/p>\n<p>Backup centre Sandro Mamukelashvili said earlier this week that the complete season has been leading as much as this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been keeping one another accountable and playing hard. Though sometimes we&#8217;ve got ups and downs, we stay together. We attempt to figure it out together,\u201d he said. \u201cCoach (Rajakovic) is doing an amazing job coaching us and helping us recover from the humps that we&#8217;ve got. It\u2019s amazing to be where we\u2019re at because I don\u2019t think anybody saw us being here.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow we\u2019ve just got to lock in and finish strong. It\u2019s not done until it\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2026.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n\t\t&#038;copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So far as Darko Rajakovic is anxious, the strain of not knowing if his Toronto Raptors will reach the NBA playoffs or stumble into the play-in tournament this weekend is \u201cthe great thing about the job.\u201d The Raptors visited the Recent York Knicks on Friday and can host the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":316787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[17736,660,2751,3491,3019],"class_list":["post-316786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-cusp","tag-nba","tag-playoffs","tag-raptors","tag-returning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316786"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316789,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316786\/revisions\/316789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}