The Toronto Raptors officially played their first season in the NBA back in 1995. The team won just 25 games back then, struggling to compete on the pro level as most expansion teams do.

While the 2020/21 campaign has a sheer disappointment for the Raptors, they've still been one of the more successful organizations in the last few years.

For this piece, we ranked the three best Raptors teams in the franchise's short but memorable history.

3. 2017-18 Raptors

The Raptors won 59 games in the 2017-18 regular season and were first in the Eastern Conference standings. All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry were playing the best basketball of their respective careers and it showed in Toronto's win-loss record.

DeRozan averaged 23.0 points per game in the regular season, while Lowry put up 16.2 markers.

The Raptors began the 2018 playoffs by defeating John Wall, Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards in six games in the first round.

Next up was Toronto's nemesis.

LeBron James had been a thorn in the Raptors' side for years in the playoffs, but Toronto was confident this was the season they were finally going to get past The King.

That confidence didn't do much for the Raptors, unfortunately. They wound up getting swept by James and the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

It was sad to watch the Raptors get swept like that because they were such an elite team in the regular season. Despite this squad not winning it all, though, they are still one of the best Toronto teams ever.

2. 2015-16 Raptors

This Raptors team won 56 games in the regular season and finished in second place in the Eastern Conference standings. Both DeRozan and Lowry averaged over 20.0 points per game.

Toronto started the playoffs with a hard-fought, seven-game first-round series win over Paul George and the Indiana Pacers. The second round didn't get any easier for the Raps, who defeated Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat in seven games as well.

The 2016 Eastern Conference Finals featured the Raptors going up against LeBron and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The series went to six games, with the Cavs winning. However, Toronto never folded and showed a lot of mental toughness in the series.

1. 2018-19 Raptors

Ujiri made the bold move of trading DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs for Leonard and Green. Multiple reports had stated that Kawhi had zero interest in playing for the Raptors and was hellbent on getting traded to Los Angeles.

However, Ujiri took the risk, and boy did it pay off.

Leonard guided Toronto to its first-ever championship last season and won his second Finals MVP. Kawhi averaged 26.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists during the regular season for the Raptors. As all superstars do, Leonard took his game to another level in the playoffs and put up 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists.

The Raptors started off the playoffs by defeating the Orlando Magic in the first round in five games. Game 1 was scary because Lowry had zero points and Toronto lost. However, Lowry bounced back in Game 2 and the Raps easily won the series.

The second round saw Toronto take on Joel Embiid, Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris and the Philadelphia 76ers. It was undoubtedly an epic series as it went all the way to seven games, with Leonard hitting possibly the biggest shot of the last decade in Game 7 to lift Toronto to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Toronto fell 0-2 to the Milwaukee Bucks in the conference finals, but unlike in past seasons, they didn't panic. Led by Leonard and Pascal Siakam, the Raptors won four games in a row to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

In the Finals, Toronto defeated the Golden State Warriors in six games. Leonard became a Raptors legend in just one season, while Lowry got that first ring he has chased for a long time.