Raptors Notes: Barrett, Rajakovic, Ingram, Quickley, Temple
Raptors forward RJ Barrett was thrilled to clinch his first playoff appearance with his hometown team, as Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes. Toronto secured a playoff berth after blowing out Brooklyn on Sunday.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Barrett, grinning broadly. “Just from when I got here, I would always be one of the ones saying, when you do things the right way, the results are going to come. We’ve been doing things the right way. We’ve been working, building. This is the result of that. Obviously, it’s still a process. But this is a good step for us. I don’t think many people thought we were gonna be here. I’m just very proud of this group, how hard we work, how together we are.”
The main reason the Raptors are back in the playoffs for the first time in four years is because they followed the lead of head coach Darko Rajakovic, according to Koreen. Rajakovic said during training camp the team would improve its half-court offense, force turnovers on defense, and score points in transition, all of which came to fruition as Toronto went 46-36, a 16-game improvement on 2024/25’s 30-52 mark.
Rajakovic is the first European-born head coach to lead an NBA team to the playoffs, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Rajakovic initially downplayed the achievement before praising those who came before him.
“Well there’s not many of us, it’s no huge accomplishment,” he said. “ … So many players, so many coaches from ex-Yugoslavia, especially Serbia, made this path possible. … Without their successes, I would never be (here).”
Here’s more from Toronto:
- All-Star forward Brandon Ingram played in 77 regular season games in 2025/26, by far his most appearances since he was a rookie, Koreen notes. The 28-year-old said he believed in the Raptors’ potential after the team acquired him ahead of the February 2025 deadline. “I saw the team before I integrated into it. I saw how hard everyone worked, the care factor from every player, one through 15,” said Ingram, who missed most of last season with an ankle injury. “Even the coaching staff, how they adjust game to game, the focus on the defensive end and letting it transition to the offensive end (was huge). And I thought if I could step into the fold and be effective, that we would be … right where we are today.”
- While the Raptors were understandably happy to make the playoffs, the news wasn’t all positive on Sunday. Starting point guard Immanuel Quickley, who was already hampered by plantar fasciitis in his right foot, suffered a “mild” hamstring strain during the victory over Brooklyn and is considered day-to-day, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link). It’s unclear if Quickley will be available for Game 1 of Toronto’s first-round series against Cleveland, which tips off on Saturday. Even if Quickley is active, it certainly sounds like he’ll be less than 100%.
- Veteran wing Garrett Temple has been one of Toronto’s locker room leaders the past few years, but he recognizes his career is nearing its end, according to Grange. “I’m 17 years in, I’m definitely thinking about (retirement),” Temple told Grange. “Now, if I’m thinking about it, doing it this year or next year or the year after, who knows. But it’s definitely on my radar. I’m closer to retirement than the beginning of my career, that’s for sure. So, you know, we’ll see what happens. But I’m cherishing this time for sure. It went by fast, and the rest, whether it’s a year, two years or whatever, it will go by faster.”
Atlantic Notes: Rajakovic, Smith, McBride, Lidell
This season will mark the first time Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic has a chance to compete for a playoff spot, and he deserves credit for helping the team get to this point, Michael Grange writes for Sportsnet.
Toronto won 30 games last season and had the NBA’s 25th-best defense, Grange notes, while they’re up to 44 wins and rank sixth defensively this season, with three games still to go. The team currently sits in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, with a one-game lead on the Sixers and Magic, and a 1.5-game lead over the Hornets entering Wednesday’s slate of games.
“This is what you sign up for,” Rajakovic said. “It’s very, very exciting … the path that we had the past two years and this in my third year of coaching here to be in a position to plan, to fight for something, to fight for the playoffs, to fight for seeding, it’s all very, very meaningful.”
While the on-court numbers and results have been moving in the right direction, backup big Sandro Mamukelashvili also vouched for his head coach’s ability to connect with the team on a personal level.
“You go through things mentally, physically … (and) his office is always open, so it’s easy to step in there,” Mamukelashvili said. “A lot of head coaches are a little bit unapproachable, so just having the freedom to step in there and tell him what I feel and what I think I can do, where do I see myself, where does he see me? … I think that helps you through the long run.”
We have more from around the Atlantic Division:
- Malachi Smith‘s work for the Nets recently paid off as he was rewarded with a two-year deal. Now, after a start-and-stop beginning of his NBA career, partially as a result of injuries, he’s ready to take the next step, CJ Holmes writes for the New York Daily News. “I just always was like, I know I can do this,” Smith said. “I just have to be healthy to play.“
- E.J. Liddell had a career night on Tuesday, scoring 21 points in his second start of the season to power the Nets past the Bucks. While that marked a milestone for the 25-year-old forward, it also represented a minor blow to Brooklyn’s lottery position, as it moved the Jazz and Kings both a half-game away from seizing the third-worst record, and with it, the last available 14% chance at landing the top pick, Holmes writes. The Nets have three games left in the season, including a matchup with the 18-61 Pacers, while the Kings have just two games left against teams looking to improve their postseason standing in the Blazers and Warriors.
- Knicks guard Miles McBride had a scare in his return from a lengthy absence due to core muscle surgery when he tweaked the injury in his first game back, Kristian Winfield writes for the New York Daily News. However, he said he had been warned this kind of reaggravation could happen. “It’s really just a part of the recovery process,” he said. “Basically everything was tightened, and now I’m back to moving around, so it’s just part of it.” New York’s key reserve guard is taking a patient approach to his ramp-up, knowing that the process of making sure he’s at his best for the playoffs will be slower than he’d like.
Anthony Edwards Named 2026 All-Star MVP
Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards was named All-Star MVP after his team – the USA Stars – defeated the rival U.S. squad – USA Stripes – 47-21 in the All-Star championship game. It’s Edwards’ first All-Star MVP award and his third All-Star appearance overall.
The first three games of the All-Star game rewarded the choice of format, with all three matchups decided by one possession.
In game one between USA Stars and Team World, Victor Wembanyama (Spurs) set the tone early, recording 14 points and three blocks while his teammate Karl-Anthony Towns (Knicks) contributed 10 points. Edwards led the Stars attack with 13 points, but it was Scottie Barnes (Raptors) who knocked down the game-winning three-pointer, completing a comeback to defeat his head coach, Darko Rajakovic, who was coaching Team World.
After the game, Edwards credited Wembanyama for doing what he said he would and amping up the intensity on the floor for everyone.
Game two between the two American teams also came down to the final shot, as Jaylen Brown (Celtics) led USA Stripes in scoring while Edwards and Cade Cunningham (Pistons) paced USA Stars with 11 points apiece. De’Aaron Fox (Spurs) hit the game-winning three-pointer for the Stars.
In game three, Kawhi Leonard (Clippers) took over for his home crowd, scoring 31 points in 12 minutes on 11-of-13 shooting while Wembanyama kept Team World in it with 19 points of his own. Leonard iced the game with a three-pointer over Towns to take USA Stripes to the championship game in a rematch with USA Stars.
In the fourth and final game, USA Stripes’ older legs appeared worn down by the previous two contests and the younger stars ran out to a 12-1 lead, led by Edwards and Tyrese Maxey (Sixers), who finished with a game-high nine points. They pushed the lead up to 26-9 on an Edwards three-pointer and eventually went on a 15-0 run, as Jalen Brunson (Knicks) and LeBron James (Lakers) were the only players to hit a field goal over the first seven minutes for USA Stripes. Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers) finished the game with a team-high six points for USA Stripes.
Darko Rajakovic To Coach World Team At All-Star Game
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic has been named the coach of the World team for this year’s All-Star event, the NBA announced today (via Twitter).
Typically, the two All-Star coaches come from the teams with the best record in each conference as of February 1, as long as they didn’t coach in the game the previous year. J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons and Mitch Johnson of the Spurs fit that criteria this season and have already been named All-Star coaches.
However, the NBA tweaked the format of its All-Star game this year — instead of being a matchup between two 12-player teams, the event will be made up of three teams of eight players apiece competing in multiple shorter games. Two of those teams will consist of U.S. players, while the third will be a “World” team featuring international stars.
As a result of the format change, a third head coach was required, so Rajakovic will join Bickerstaff and Johnson for the festivities in Los Angeles later this month.
Rajakovic’s Raptors have a 30-21 record and currently hold the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. One of the only current NBA head coaches born outside of the U.S., Rajkovic is a native of Serbia who has previously coached teams in both Spain and Serbia, making him an obvious fit to lead the World team.
Ja Morant Notes: Trade Ideas, Possible Suitors, Injury
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Friday that the Grizzlies are entertaining trade offers for Ja Morant and will consider moving the two-time All-Star point guard prior to the February 5 deadline.
Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com hears from sources who say the 26-year-old still feels miffed about the team-issued one-game suspension he received at the beginning of the season. In the wake of that suspension, Morant told opposing players and some of his former coaches that he no longer wanted to play for Memphis, according to Wright.
Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal says Morant has not requested a trade (Twitter link), but the distinction might not matter much if the Grizzlies are open to dealing him anyway. For what it’s worth, Morant is present at Friday’s game vs. Oklahoma City, tweets Cole.
Here’s more on Morant:
- The ESPN.com story that includes the sourced notes from Wright is largely centered on trade ideas involving Morant, who is under contract through 2027/28. Insiders Zach Kram and Kevin Pelton pitch theoretical trades, and those proposals are evaluated by former front office executive Bobby Marks. A deal that sends Immanuel Quickley, Ochai Agbaji and Toronto’s top-14 protected 2026 first-round pick to Memphis and Morant to the Raptors is the most appealing trade for the Grizzlies, in Marks’ view.
- Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link) is skeptical that the Raptors would have much interest in Morant, however, pointing out that head coach Darko Rajakovic is close to Taylor Jenkins, who was fired by the Grizzlies toward the end of last season. Rajakovic was an assistant under Jenkins in Memphis for three seasons prior to landing Toronto’s head coaching job.
- In a subscriber-only story for The Memphis Commercial Appeal, Cole lists five potential landing spots for Morant, including the Timberwolves, Heat and Bucks.
- Morant missed his fourth straight game on Friday due to a right calf contusion. However, unlike the previous three games, when he was initially deemed questionable before being downgraded, he was immediately ruled out for Friday’s contest. Asked before the game whether Morant had experienced a setback, head coach Tuomas Iisalo said “no,” as Cole relays (via Twitter).
Daigneault, Bickerstaff Named Coaches Of The Month
Mark Daigneault of the Thunder and J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons have been named the NBA’s Coaches of the Month for games played in October and November, the league announced in a press release (Twitter links).
Daigneault won the award for the Western Conference, while Bickerstaff claimed the honor in the East.
After Oklahoma City held the best record in the NBA in 2024/25 at 68-14, Daigneault led the defending champions to a 20-1 record over the first month-plus of the season — unsurprisingly, that is once again the top record in the league.
Bickerstaff led the upstart Pistons to a 16-4 record during October and November, the top mark in the East and only trailing the Thunder for the best record in the NBA.
According to the league, David Adelman (Nuggets), Mitch Johnson (Spurs), Jordan Ott (Suns) and Ime Udoka (Rockets) were the other nominees in the West, while Kenny Atkinson (Cavaliers), Mike Brown (Knicks), Jamahl Mosley (Magic), Darko Rajakovic (Raptors), Quin Snyder (Hawks) and Erik Spoelstra (Heat) were nominated in the East.
Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Maxey, Embiid, Bona, Demin, Rajakovic
The Celtics held their own without injured star Jayson Tatum through the first month of the 2025/26 season and entered Friday’s game with an 8-7 record. However, hosting the lowly Nets, Boston experienced its most discouraging loss of the season, falling 113-105 to a Brooklyn club whose only two previous wins had come against Indiana and Washington.
As Jay King of The Athletic writes, star wing Jaylen Brown expressed frustration after the game with what he saw from his team, suggesting that Boston’s effort level wasn’t where it needed to be “for the majority of the game.”
“Come ready to play, or don’t play at all,” Brown said. “That’s my whole thing. We’ve gotta come ready to play. We just went through the motions today. Like, I don’t understand it. … Regardless if you’re making or missing shots, regardless of anything, we’ve just got to come out and play with great energy, great enthusiasm for the game. Like, want to win. It just didn’t seem like that was the case tonight.”
“… At the end of the day, we’ve all got a job to do,” Brown continued. “We’re all getting paid to do what we love to do. Come ready to play basketball, or you’re doing a disservice. So everybody’s got to come here and be ready to do their job and have great energy, enthusiasm and want to win. That’s what it’s about at the end of day: Celtic basketball.”
Besides losing Tatum to an Achilles tear that is expected to sideline him for most or all of the 2025/26 season, the Celtics traded away Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis over the summer, so there’s less talent on the roster than there has been during the past couple years. As a result, the team can’t afford to take any nights off, head coach Joe Mazzulla told King and other reporters.
“I think it’s true of any basketball team, but I think the margin for error is smaller for certain teams,” Mazzulla said. “And the margin for error is smaller for us. We have to be the best. We have to be sharp physically and mentally every night. We’ve understood that that’s a strength of ours when we’re at our best, and we have to try to play at our best.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Just 24 hours after Paul George told Tony Jones of The Athletic that Tyrese Maxey is the “heart and soul” of the Sixers, the star guard submitted arguably the best performance of his career on Thursday in an overtime win over Milwaukee, with 54 points and nine assists, per Steve Megargee of The Associated Press. Maxey is now the league leader in minutes per game (40.7) and ranks second in scoring (33.4 PPG). “We’re asking him to do so much. We’re asking him to play a ton of minutes and he’s delivering,” George told Jones this week. “… This is similar to what Allen Iverson once did for the city. He’s our battery, and we’re witnessing one of them ones.”
- Joel Embiid still has some soreness in his right knee, but Sixers doctors have determined he’s making positive progress toward a return, tweets Jones. The 76ers also said that big man Adem Bona, who is out with a right ankle sprain, will miss at least two more games, Jones adds.
- Nets lottery pick Egor Demin was benched for the final 20 minutes of a loss to Boston on Tuesday, according to Dan Martin of The New York Post, who notes that the rookie guard was struggling defensively. However, Demin bounced back on Friday, hitting a big three-point shot in the fourth quarter to help Brooklyn secure an upset victory over the divisional rival Celtics, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “He played so hard, and that’s why he earned the right to be out there. And he showed composure,” head coach Jordi Fernandez said after Friday’s win.
- Darko Rajakovic won just 25 and 30 games in his first two years as the Raptors‘ head coach, but he’s making an early case for Coach of the Year consideration this fall, contends Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca. While Brandon Ingram‘s arrival and a deeper bench have been difference-makers for the 11-5 Raptors, Rajakovic deserves kudos for integrating Ingram – one of the NBA’s premier isolation scorers – into his “free-flowing” system and getting the most out of that bench, Lewenberg says.
Knicks, Raptors Agree To Dismiss Lawsuit
The Knicks and Raptors have agreed to voluntarily dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Knicks in 2023, reports Baxter Holmes for ESPN.
The lawsuit alleged that former Knicks employee Ikechukwu Azotam “illegally took thousands of proprietary files with him to his new position” in Toronto at the behest of the Raptors, who looked to gain a competitive advantage.
“The Knicks and (Raptors ownership group) Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment withdrew their respective claims and the matter is resolved. The Parties are focused on the future,” the two teams said in identical statements to ESPN.
The Knicks sought over $10MM in damages, while the Raptors filed a motion aimed at dismissing the charges and called upon league commissioner Adam Silver to adjudicate the proceedings. The Knicks then questioned Silver’s impartiality based on his close relationship with Raptors minority owner Larry Tanenbaum. In response, the Raptors accused the Knicks of dragging out the case for publicity and threatened to counter-sue.
Ultimately, a judge agreed with the Raptors that the matter should be resolved by Silver.
Along with Azotam and the Raptors organization, head coach Darko Rajakovic was listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, along with player development coach Noah Lewis and 10 unidentified employees.
Holmes notes that the case has now been voluntarily dismissed with prejudice, which means the decision is permanent.
Raptors Notes: Ingram, Walter, Mamukelashvili, More
Raptors forward Brandon Ingram has been cleared for contact, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports reports (via Twitter). This marks a major step in Ingram’s rehab process as he continues to work his way back from an ankle injury that prevented him from playing for Toronto after the team traded for him at the 2024 trade deadline.
Lewenberg writes that Ingram has been participating in individual workouts with the Raptors during the offseason and will start scrimmaging in the next few days. Head coach Darko Rajakovic seems optimistic about the versatile wing’s return.
“He’s pain-free, he’s moving well, he got stronger. He’s in a really, really great spot,” Rajakovic said.
The Raptors traded a pair of rotation players along with a first-round draft pick and a second-round pick to acquire Ingram, who will be counted on to help them take the next step toward sustained competitiveness.
We have more on the Raptors:
- Ja’Kobe Walter, the 19th pick in the 2024 draft, is coming into his sophomore season with 12 more pounds of muscle and a readiness to gain some momentum in Summer League, Lewenberg writes for TSN.ca. Walter was beset by injuries as a rookie that made it difficult to get his feet under him until near the end of the season, when things started to click. “That was my first time ever being injured and I got injured plenty of times last year,” Walter said. “It was definitely tough for me, but I learned that I love basketball.” While the Raptors’ starting five appears set, there’s a need for versatile wing contributors off the bench who can mesh with the starters, and a strong summer would go a long way toward cementing Walter’s place in that pecking order.
- Sandro Mamukelashvili spoke on Friday about why he chose to join the Raptors and how the international connection matters to him. “Coach Darko is a European coach, understands European style of play,” Mamukelashvili said (Twitter link via Lewenberg). “A lot of young guys who want to get better, get to the next level together. Nothing better than to be part of something like that.” The 6’11” big man also talked about the journeyman start to his career and his search for a more permanent home. “I really want to prove that I’m a rotational piece, that I can be in the NBA for 10 years and leave my mark somewhere,” he said (Twitter link). The four-year veteran spent 65 games with the Bucks before playing the next two-and-a-half seasons with the Spurs. In 2024/25, he averaged 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 11.2 minutes per game, while shooting 37.3% from three.
- Rajakovic spoke on Thursday about the Raptors’ decision to fire former team president Masai Ujiri. “He brought a lot of success to the organization, but like a lot of things in life, those kinds of situations happen,” he said, per Lewenberg (via Twitter). “We’re going to miss him, but we’re very well equipped to continue moving forward.” Toronto has yet to replace Ujiri, but is expected to look at both internal and external candidates to find a new president.
- Summer League wins might not count in the regular season standings, but that won’t stop the Raptors’ Summer League squad from gunning for the championship in Las Vegas, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet. With a large portion of the roster made up of players hoping to be members of the regular season rotation, including Walter, Jamal Shead, Jonathan Mogbo, and recent No. 9 overall pick Collin Murray-Boyles, the team recognizes its chance to develop chemistry and prove itself in the eyes of the team’s higher-ups. “We want to be the team that everybody thinks we should. I think, going into the summer league, we’re all excited to play. We’re all hungry,” Shead said after hosting a four-day training camp at his former high school in Austin, Texas.
Atlantic Notes: Ujiri, Rajakovic, Raptors, Sixers’ Trio, Knicks Bigs
The Raptors‘ front office, led by president Masai Ujiri, is determined to get the team back into championship contention, Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes. In his end-of-season news conference, Ujiri expressed that he wasn’t able to enjoy Toronto’s championship in 2019 as much as he would’ve liked and that all he thinks about is getting his team back to that spot.
“[Our goal] is getting better and adding more players and building this team and growing to be a championship team,” Ujiri said. “A championship is the end goal of all of this, and when that comes, we don’t know, but we have to identify those players and build with those kinds of players.”
The Raptors took a big swing by acquiring Brandon Ingram at the deadline and giving him a multiyear extension before he played a game for the team.
“At the end of the day, you have to acquire talent,” Ujiri said. “We have to do it in a unique way in the market that we’re in and we’ve got to jump on opportunities that come our way, sometimes after we really study them.”
Ujiri’s comments this week represented a departure from the ones he made a year ago, when he expressed a willingness to embark on a multiyear rebuild, Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes. Toronto did maximize its draft talent this year, with rookies Ja’Kobe Walter, Jonathan Mogbo, Jamal Shead and Jamison Battle all stepping up and playing big roles.
“I was really happy with the way these guys played and hopefully their development comes up more and more,” Ujiri said. “Yeah, we tried to attack the odds in the lottery and see what we can do. It’s a good draft. And honestly, wherever we fall, we feel very confident. Our guys have done a lot of work all year. We’re extremely excited.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- The pressure to win has been relatively low in Toronto with the team acquiring and developing so many young players, Grange writes in another piece. But with the Raptors‘ focus shifting toward winning, head coach Darko Rajakovic is ready for the team’s next phase and has the full buy-in of his players. “He’s a really good coach. He cares about us. He really does,” RJ Barrett said. “He comes in and he challenges us every single day. And it’s nice when you know that you have somebody that cares about you — makes you want to play even harder for them. Darko’s a guy you can have conversations with about anything, and he’s very helpful. Always teaching, but he listens to us and our ideas. Yeah. So, like, that stuff is great.”
- Sixers wing Paul George wants the team’s big three – himself, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid – to spend more time together this offseason, Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer writes. “I think that’s very important,” George said. “We’ve already talked about seeing each other, where we’re going to be this summer. So we’ve already had those conversations about connecting once the season’s over. I think it’s very important. I don’t think it’s healthy to go two, three months before seeing each other, regardless of if we’re checking in over the phone. It’s just different seeing each other.“
- The Knicks might turn to two-big lineups in the playoffs against the Pistons, Peter Botte of the New York Post writes. Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns only played 47 minutes together this season, but that two-man grouping outscored opponents by 9.2 points per 100 possessions. Head coach Tom Thibodeau said that despite the small sample size, he liked what he saw from that pairing.