the Toronto Raptors

The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario.

Ontario, one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada, is located in east-central Canada.

Basketball is a sport, generally played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court.

Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario.

Raptors 20th Anniversary Jersey by Toronto Raptors

The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association, as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division.

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league in the world.

Cory Joseph buzzer-beater game-winner three-pointer: Toronto Raptors at Washington Wizards by watchnba201415

The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, as part of the NBA's expansion into Canada.

When the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis, Tennessee to become the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, the Raptors became the only Canadian-based team in the NBA.

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Shelby County.

They originally played their home games at SkyDome, before moving eastward along Bremner Boulevard to the Air Canada Centre in 1999.

Rogers Centre, originally named SkyDome, is a multi-purpose stadium in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada situated just southwest of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario.

The Air Canada Centre is a multi-purpose indoor sporting arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Like most expansion teams, the Raptors struggled in their early years, but after the acquisition of Vince Carter through a draft day trade in 1998, the team set league-attendance records and made the NBA playoffs in 2000, 2001, and 2002.

The National Basketball Association playoffs are a best-of-seven elimination tournament among 16 teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, ultimately deciding the league's season champion in the NBA Finals.

The playoffs, play-offs, postseason and/or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade.

Vincent Lamar Carter is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association.

Carter was instrumental in leading the team to a then-franchise high 47 wins and their first playoff series win in 2001, where they advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

During the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, they failed to make significant progress, and Carter was traded in 2004 to the New Jersey Nets.

New Jersey is a state in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.

After Carter left, Chris Bosh emerged as the team leader.

In 2006–07, Bryan Colangelo's first full season as President and General Manager, a combination of Bosh, 2006 first overall NBA draft pick Andrea Bargnani and a revamp of the roster helped the Raptors qualify for their first playoff berth in five years, capturing the Atlantic Division title with 47 wins.

Bryan Paul Colangelo is an American basketball executive and currently is the president of basketball operations and general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association.

Andrea Bargnani is an Italian professional basketball player who last played for Baskonia of the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague.

GM or Gm may refer to:

In the 2007–08 season, they advanced to the playoffs again, but failed to make the playoffs in each of the next five seasons.

In a bid to persuade Bosh to stay, Colangelo overhauled the team roster for the 2009–10 season, but Bosh signed with the Miami Heat in July 2010, ushering in yet another era of rebuilding for the Raptors.

After Masai Ujiri was brought in as the new General Manager in 2013, he traded Bargnani to the New York Knicks.

Masai Ujiri is a Nigerian-American professional basketball executive, former scout and former player, currently serving as the president of the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association.

The New York Knickerbockers, commonly referred to as the Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in New York City.

With a backcourt led by Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors returned to the playoffs, won their second Atlantic Division title, and won a then-franchise record 48 games in the 2013–14 season.

However, they failed for a fourth consecutive time to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs.

In the 2014–15 season, they won a then-franchise record 49 games, but failed for a second consecutive year to advance past the first round of the playoffs, getting swept by the Washington Wizards, 4–0.

The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association, as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division.

In the 2015–16 season, they won a franchise record 56 games, finishing in second place in the conference for the first time in franchise history.

In the playoffs, they won their first playoff series since 2001 by defeating both the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat, advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time against the Cleveland Cavaliers, only for the Raptors to lose to the eventual NBA champions in six games.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, also known as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio.

In the 2016–17 season, the Raptors make the playoffs again, this time defeating the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round, but losing to the defending champions in the second round.