Toronto Raptors have already made a coaching decision for next year: report
Amid a Toronto Raptors rebuild, there’s never too much certainty about who might be staying and going at any given moment.
But it appears that at least one of the key cogs of the machine will remain for the foreseeable future, according to a report from Sportsnet’s Michael Grange.
“Sportsnet has learned the Raptors quietly reached out to [current head coach Darko] Rajaković during the off-season and picked up the fourth-year team option on the ‘three-and-one’ contract he signed with Toronto in the summer of 2023,” Grange wrote in an article published Sunday evening.
Rajakovic has had a tough couple of years in Toronto, going just 53-104 in his first two seasons as an NBA head coach. But given the intense roster turnover the organization’s undergone in his tenure, he still seems in pretty good spirits about his job.
“Toronto is one of the best cities in the world. Toronto Raptors have the best fans in [the] NBA. It’s a privilege to play in this city,” Rajaković told Offside last week.
“It’s amazing every time I go out, when I go to the store, and when I talk to regular people, how much they love the team, how much they recognize the moment we’re in, how much there is support and we’re just at the start of our rebuild.”
The Raptors sticking with Rajakovic despite the team likely finishing both of his first two seasons outside of the postseason seems to have been a possibility all along.
“Part of the interview process, you go through all those scenarios, right? We knew the team that we were going to put forward, but we also knew the potential changes that could happen. We’re very upfront and communicative [with Rajakovic]. He’s been part of a lot of different NBA franchises. So I don’t think this feels entirely new to him,” Raptors general manager Bobby Webster told Offside following the 2024 trade deadline.
Toronto has just seven games left in their regular season, as they sit five-and-a-half games out of the final Eastern Conference play-in spot.