Top Raptors Stories of 2025: The Raptors organization, not players, embarrassed itself against the Magic

Welcome to Raptors Republic’s new New Year tradition. As decided by you, the readers, it’s time to dive into the 10 most-read editorials of the year at Raptors Republic. You can find the full top-10 list of released articles for 2025 (as each one is released) here.

I limited the list to editorials because news items and other pieces can often have more reads than columns. But these pieces — and I’m including post-game pieces — are the ones that take the most work, and in my eyes have the most value. So they’re the ones included in this list.

The year of 2025 has been one defined maybe most by wild swings of emotion for the Toronto Raptors. Toronto traded for Brandon Ingram, which allowed it to continue to tank to end the year. Then the team didn’t rise in the draft and added Collin Murray-Boyles. The season started, and the team looked great! (For one game.) Then terrible, then great, now terrible again. A real roller coaster.

Through it all, there has been comprehensive coverage here at Raptors Republic. Some of the top stories include reactions to that trade for Ingram, that Murray-Boyles pick, the collapse of the team’s fortunes over the previous few weeks. We’ve been here, with you, watching it all unfold. If 2026 is anything similar, we could lose five years of our lives.

Without further ado, the No. 5 most-read story at Raptors Republic of 2025: “The Raptors organization, not players, embarrassed itself against the Magic” by me

Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko intended to fix a boxing match. He had an agreement in place with one boxer and gave the money to his assistant to give to the fighter. But the assistant — fool — gave the money to the wrong fighter. The fighter who had agreed to the fix thought, ‘oh well, I must be getting paid after the fight.’ The other guy who received the money thought, ‘well this is a surprise, but the money’s good, so I’ll throw it.’ 

And so ensued boxing, and Steve Martin, history. 

If you don’t want to watch the movie Sgt. Bilko to relive the joke (you should, it’s an awesome movie) you don’t need to. You can just watch the Toronto Raptors’ win over the Orlando Magic. 

It was a normal game for 40 minutes. The score stayed within five points for all but a few moments of the first half. Lots of turnovers, sure. It wasn’t an instant classic. But it was a normal NBA basketball game. The Raptors stormed ahead in the third behind ferocious defence and led by double digits in the fourth. Against the offensively inept Magic, that should have been all she wrote. But it was not. 

The Raptors needed divine intervention from Immanuel Quickley a few nights previous against the Chicago Bulls to pull defeat from the jaws of victory, as he fouled a 3-point shot attempt from Coby White in the waning seconds while the Raptors led by four. Then the Raptors tried their hardest to lose to the Magic in their last contest, only to fail to lose as Franz Wagner missed an uncontested layup with seconds remaining that would have tied the game. So Darko Rajakovic seemed to get serious about losing in this March 4 contest and yanked Quickley and Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl early in the fourth, not to return. 

You can read the rest of the piece here. And tune in tomorrow for number four!

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