Former Raptors star Damon Stoudamire leaned back on a couch in a downtown Toronto office and recalled the team’s early days when he anchored an expansion squad that would struggle for years.
The NBA team won just 21 games in its debut 1995-96 season, with Stoudamire’s rookie of the year award one of the few highlights from the team’s early era. The man nicknamed “Mighty Mouse” lasted only two-plus seasons in Toronto but always felt the franchise would eventually be successful.
“I thought the potential was there,” Stoudamire said. “Obviously it was on the ground level.