Toronto Raptors go viral for ‘pizza party’ and here’s where they ordered from

The Toronto Raptors are having a resurgence amid a difficult season, and their method of celebrating a recent winning streak has turned into a viral phenomenon with fans.

First-year head coach Darko Rajakovic promised to treat the struggling team to dinner if they could pull off a three-game winning streak — a feat the team finally accomplished almost three months after that early-December promise with a 130-122 victory over the Indiana Pacers on February 26.

The team’s fanbase ran with Rajakovic’s promise of a team dinner, transforming it into a “pizza party” joke in the months since the offer.

The memes seemed to have rubbed off on Rajakovic, who told reporters in late February, “The story goes that I promised our guys early in the season that once we get three wins in a row, that I’m gonna take them to a nice dinner. But since they are a group of such humble guys, we can go for pizza. We’re gonna negotiate.”

Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley shared a clip of the team being treated to pizza at the OVO Athletic Centre — precisely the type of team dinner fans had demanded for months.

Immanuel Quickley on Snapchat Stories:

Darko finally gave them the Pizza Party🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/2T3UvhWKUO

— RapsShowYo (@RapsShowYo) February 29, 2024

So, where do professional athletes get their pizza in Toronto?

It’s another accolade for Maker Pizza, a popular Toronto establishment that has expanded to four locations since storming onto the local pizza scene in 2015.

Best pizza in TO 🔥

— 🔌 (@Hospey) February 29, 2024

The clip shows one of Maker’s cheese pies, one of the lighter options on their menu.

It’s a simple choice that Rajakovic foreshadowed this week, when he told reporters that he is not a fan of pineapple on pizza and prefers a simple Margherita instead.

With files from Adam Laskaris