Impossible conditions. Terrible luck. Brutal outcomes. These are the unfortunate ways in which we must now summarize the Raptors’ 2020-21 NBA season. Yes, every professional sports team had to adjust, in ways both big and small, how they operated during this pandemic era, but few organizations — and none others in the NBA — had to do what the Raptors did.
Two years removed from a championship, the Raptors just finished playing 72 basketball games in Tampa, Florida, never once setting foot in Toronto. They agreed to this to make the NBA season possible, to ensure the league could operate as constituted, all 30 of its teams in line.