Two Former Raptors Clinch 1st NBA Championship With Celtics

Oshae Brissett is the latest Canadian and former Toronto Raptors player to clinch an NBA championship.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Toronto opted to waive Brissett ahead of the 2020-21 season in Tampa. The organization hadn’t found a role for him the previous year and Toronto opted to keep Yuta Watanabe head into the season.

It wasn’t quite a regrettable decision, but Brissett has managed to stick around the NBA first with the Indiana Pacers and more recently as a two-year deal with the Celtics. The Mississauga native appeared in 55 games for Boston during the regular season and came off the bench to make 10 playoff appearances. He played the final 38 seconds of Game 5 in Boston, checking in for Jrue Holiday before the final buzzer sounded.

Brissett became the 10th Canadian player to clinch an NBA championship joining Jamal Murray and Andrew Wiggins, the latest Canadians to accomplish the feat.

Former Raptors wing Svi Mykhailiuk clinched his first championship too, chipping in 13 minutes off the bench for Boston in the Finals. Toronto parted ways with Mykhailiuk following a disappointing 2021-22 campaign with the Raptors.

Mykhailiuk inked a one-year minimum deal with the Celtics prior to this season and appeared in 41 games for Boston over the regular season.

Dallas had three Canadians appear in Game 5 against Boston. AJ Lawson, Dwight Powell, and rookie Olivier Maxence-Prosper were all out of the rotation for the Mavericks but saw limited garbage time minutes in the Finals.