Raptors Coach Shares Story Behind the 'Pizza Party' Dinner

The Toronto Raptors won't be going for pizza, but Darko Rajaković says he will take the team out for a fancy dinner following their third straight victory

Darko Rajaković is going to hold true to his word.

It’ll be an expensive promise the Toronto Raptors coach made nearly three months ago when he swore to his team that he’d pick up the tab for a team dinner whenever they won three straight games.

On Monday, the Raptors held up their end of the bargain, ironically against Pascal Siakam, who first mentioned Rajaković’s plan back on Dec. 4. before being dealt to the Indiana Pacers.

“When I announced that Pascal said ‘Yeah, the team is going to pay for that.’ He thinks I'm cheap,” Rajaković said at the time. “That’s not true. So once we get three wins in a row I'm taking staff and players to dinner and it’s going to be out of my pocket.”

Somehow along the way, this team dinner became a pizza party. Rajaković suggested it’s because his roster is so humble they’re not going to demand an expensive dinner from their first-year head coach. 

But Rajaković isn’t going to skimp on the reward.

“Earlier in the season, a lot of guys were not here, but I promised whenever (we) win three games in a row that I’m going to buy dinner. Somebody said pizza party, but that’s a little bit like, you know, we’re going to ramp it up a little bit. We’re going to get some nice food,” Rajaković was recorded saying during his post-game speech to the team.

Reporters in Indiana said Toronto’s assistant coaches were heard joking about the pizza party as they walked off the court following the victory in Indiana.

“We’re going to negotiate where we’re going to go. But I’ll treat them for dinner for sure,” Rajaković told reporters post-game.

If it does end up being pizza, Rajaković said he’ll keep his order simple. He’s a classic Italian margarita type of person.

What about pineapple, a reporter asked.

“Nooooooo,” Rajaković said. “No no no no no.”