Toronto Raptors

Toronto had no NBA team until the 1995–96 season, and the one that arrived was the first the league had placed outside the United States. The rights cost $125 million. They were bought by the Palestra Group, led by Larry Tanenbaum and later by John Bitove, and the franchise was officially created on 30 September 1993, more than two years before it played. The first game came on 3 November 1995: a 94–79 win over the New Jersey Nets.

The club did not win a division title until 2006–07. It then went quiet for six seasons before taking the Atlantic Division in 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16, and again in 2017–18, 2018–19 and 2019–20. Those seasons made the Raptors a regular fixture in the Eastern Conference and gave the city its own rivalries: Boston, Brooklyn, New York, and Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is the rivalry tied to 2019, when a Game 7 against the 76ers was decided by a buzzer-beater. Toronto went on to win the Eastern Conference and then beat the Golden State Warriors 4–2 in the Finals. It was the first NBA championship won by a team based outside the United States, and so far the club's only one. The team is known as The Raps, and in older usage as The Dinos. The purple and gold in the palette sit beside red and black.

The Finals MVP that year was Kawhi Leonard.