June 13, 2019. At Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, the final buzzer sounded on Game 6 of the NBA Finals, and for the first time in franchise history, the Toronto Raptors were NBA champions.

Seven years later, that title remains the defining achievement in Canadian basketball history and one of the most significant moments the sport has seen north of the border.

The championship run began with a decision that divided the city.

In the summer of 2018, then-president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri made one of the boldest trades in NBA history, sending franchise cornerstone DeMar DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. DeRozan had spent nine seasons in Toronto and had become a fan-favorite and the face of the franchise.

For many fans, the move felt like a betrayal at the time. But in hindsight, it became the defining decision of the Raptors era.

The roster Ujiri assembled around Leonard was built with one goal in mind. Kyle Lowry led the backcourt alongside Green and Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, entering his third season, emerged as the perfect frontcourt piece alongside Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol, who arrived at the trade deadline in February 2019, while OG Anunoby and Norman Powell provided valuable depth on the wing. 

Toronto finished the 2018-19 regular season with a 58-24 record, securing the Eastern Conference’s second seed behind the Milwaukee Bucks.

Head coach Nick Nurse managed Leonard’s workload carefully throughout the year, holding him out for 22 games as part of a long-term plan to keep him healthy for the playoffs.

The approach would eventually pay off as Siakam blossomed into one of the league’s breakout stars, averaging 16.9 points per game after averaging just 7.3 the previous season. 

Toronto’s playoff run spanned four series and produced several of the most memorable moments in NBA history.

The Raptors recovered from a Game 1 loss to defeat the Orlando Magic in the opening round before surviving a grueling seven-game series against the Philadelphia 76ers. That matchup ended with Leonard’s legendary buzzer-beater in Game 7, still the only Game 7 series-winning buzzer-beater in NBA history.

Toronto then erased a 2-0 deficit against Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Finals, winning four straight games to advance to the Finals for the first time.

Against a Golden State Warriors team aiming for a three-peat, the Raptors took Game 1, dropped Game 2, then took Games 3 and 4 in Oakland before eventually closing out the series with a 114-110 victory in Game 6. Lowry and Siakam scored 26 points each in the clincher, while Leonard and VanVleet added 22 apiece.

Leonard finished the postseason with an NBA-leading 732 points and was named Finals MVP. Although Golden State suffered devastating injuries during the series, with Kevin Durant tearing his Achilles tendon in Game 5 and Klay Thompson suffering a torn ACL in Game 6, Toronto’s effort to seize the moment cannot be undervalued. 

Unfortunately for the Raptors, their championship team did not stay together for long. Leonard departed for the Los Angeles Clippers that summer, ending his lone season in Toronto, while Green later won another championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. Lowry left for Miami in 2021 and returned to the Finals in 2023, while Siakam was traded to the Indiana Pacers and led them to the NBA Finals in 2025.

Anunoby was also dealt to the New York Knicks in December 2023 and is on the verge of leading the franchise to its first title in 53 years, with the Knicks up 3-1 against the San Antonio Spurs in the 2026 NBA Finals.

While the current Raptors, led by Scottie Barnes and a young core, are poised for success in the future, the 2019 group remains the standard against which every Raptors team will be measured for years to come.