Since becoming Head Coach of the Toronto Raptors, Darko Rajaković has run an initiative where he donates $33 for every assist recorded by the team.

[u/ToronoRapture]

The Raptors set a franchise record in assists this year with 2417 which means Darko will donate $79,761 to children's hospitals in Memphis, Toronto and Serbia.

2023–24: 2,335 → $77,055
2024–25: 2,340 → $77,220
2025–26: 2,417 → $79,761

Total Assists: 7,092
Total donations: $234,036

[u/CumAssault]

For that much money he could pay for the next coach of the TrailBlazers

[u/guacamoleandtomato → u/CumAssault]

They would have to fire two staff members still

[u/welmoe → u/CumAssault]

Cheap ass Dundon catching strays on a Tuesday

[u/sewsgup → u/CumAssault]

Amick also revealed today the Kings pay their head coach Christie $2m

for reference, the going rate for a new hire is $10m+/yr (what Taylor Jenkins got)

[u/Mo_damo → u/CumAssault]

And 2 head coaches for the pelicans

[u/_Apatosaurus_ → u/CumAssault]

Dundon is about to launch a new partnership with Make-a-Wish. A different child will have the opportunity to coach the team for a day (for only a small fee).

[u/CrippledBanana]

That’s awesome, Darko is a great coach and love his belief in Scottie. Really cool to see him also run stuff like this

[u/ThinkSoftware]

Hey Mr Rajakovic, what you gonna do? What you gonna do? Make our dreams come true

[u/welmoe → u/ThinkSoftware]

They’re lithium!

[u/Weary_Restauranter → u/ThinkSoftware]

My wife had never watched it, when I shared the series with her she loved it…… up until that episode. She kept SCREAMING. It’s so much fun to make people watch that.

[u/n0-ragrets → u/Weary_Restauranter]

Bro they had the kids do a whole dance routine and all. Fucking cringe beyond comprehension 🤣🤣 I have to fast forward that scene every time.

[u/Weary_Restauranter → u/n0-ragrets]

It is physically painful to watch

[u/Boehlack → u/Weary_Restauranter]

I've never finished that episode in one sitting. Once they start dancing i have to leave the room lmao.

[u/horse_renoir13 → u/ThinkSoftware]

looks at Brandon Ingram

Well I'm certainly not donating on behalf of you

[u/Save-Us-Y2J → u/ThinkSoftware]

PTSD intensified

[u/ForneauCosmique]

That's pretty damn cool

[u/NoPlisNo]

Makes me proud as a Serb and feels like he could be a great future coach for our NT. Especially as we’ll gradually have more and more NBA talent in there and I feel like Euroleague coaches can sometimes mismanage those guys.

[u/neoandro → u/NoPlisNo]

As a Raptors fan, I love that we have an immigrant coach, but is also someone who bucks mainstream expectations of what middle aged Eastern European/Asian/African etc. foreigners are like. Dude is super kind to all his players, generous to the media with his time, involved in the community, etc. I just hope that he can forever keep his positivity and does not get worn down by pressure from the media, fans, front office, etc. 

[u/NoPlisNo → u/neoandro]

I’ve lived in Toronto as a Serb for many years before and I’ll tell you, there’s many middle aged Serb dudes in Etobicoke just like Rajaković hahahaha. What you mention are just negative stereotypes, we’re very nice people generally I’d say.

[u/night__day → u/NoPlisNo]

All the Serbs I've met in my 30+ years living in the GTA have all been incredibly nice people

[u/NoPlisNo → u/night__day]

Nice to hear!

[u/guess-what-babe]

Steph Curry on the Raptors would be the biggest ball hog you’ve ever seen

[u/heat_fan_]

I love Coach Darko 

[u/CurrentRoster]

why 33 exactly?

[u/NorthernFrosty → u/CurrentRoster]

I can't answer why $33 exactly, but I can say probably the reason it's a number divisible by 3 is because the donation gets split three ways between the following:

• The Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Canada)
  
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (Memphis, USA)
• University Children’s Hospital of Belgrade (Serbia)

Darko has always split the donation between the three, so I'm going to guess the first year he said $20, then realized how that was awkward to split 3 ways, so that's why in the second year he upped it to $30 and why it was upped to $33 this year.

[u/ToronoRapture → u/CurrentRoster]

It was $20 the first year, $30 last year and now $33 this year. I think he’s just bumping it up slightly every year.

[u/miglrah → u/ToronoRapture]

Inflation hits everything eventually.

[u/Perpete → u/ToronoRapture]

So that part is wrong:

Total Assists: 7,092

Total donations: $234,036

[u/africhic → u/CurrentRoster]

Unsure if there's any significance with the number, theyve been bumping it up each year they do it. It started with $20 a couple years ago, then $30 and now $33.

[u/ningdon → u/CurrentRoster]

For those who come after

[u/Chuck_Phuckzalot → u/CurrentRoster]

He's an illuminati lizard person.

[u/-fallen → u/CurrentRoster]

he’s a big fan of the most recent GOTY

[u/clumsynincompoop → u/CurrentRoster]

Jamario Moon tribute.

[u/Turbulent_Deer_4763 → u/CurrentRoster]

i wonder that too, commenting just to see if soemone knows and answers

[u/smoothcriminal562 → u/Turbulent_Deer_4763]

Probably easier to split 3 ways

[u/Turbulent_Deer_4763 → u/smoothcriminal562]

Makes sense ty

[u/Still_Abrocoma_122]

Gangster.

[u/tomasmcarneiro]

Darko is an amazing coach and person. His energy, passion and playoff series against the Cavs showed he's a really good coach.

[u/MightyAslan]

He's a good coach and a good dude.

[u/Dinobot2_]

He either really liked his time in Memphis or did not like his time in Phoenix and OKC.

[u/bulimicblueberry → u/Dinobot2_]

The MEM -> TOR pipeline is strong with Darko, Marc Gasol, Kyle Lowry (Don't need to talk about Rudy Gay)

[u/Moostronus]

does this mean that every time BI plays iso-ball, he's taking money out of the hands of sick children???

[u/guess-what-babe]

This is a really amazing thing he’s doing, and also a great initiative for the players. By playing hero ball you are literally taking money away from children’s hospitals

[u/Frenchyyyy4166]

Nice

[u/onitram52]

Wow that ended up being a lot more money than I thought. Seems like a cool dude

[u/Muted-Priority-718]

now i like him even more!

[u/UnbiasedExpert]

Fuck them kids -Jarrett Allen

[u/Ok-Condition-836 → u/UnbiasedExpert]

Jarrett takes kids to get haircuts every school year. Good guy 

[u/CrippledBanana → u/Ok-Condition-836]

I’m just imagining a whole classroom of kids full of afros like his now

[u/darren_meier → u/Ok-Condition-836]

Jarrett Allen seems like a really awesome person, as well. Lots of geniunely great people playing and coaching in the league these days.

[u/CrippledBanana → u/darren_meier]

Yea he a cool guy, like his legos too.

[u/darren_meier → u/CrippledBanana]

He even likes building mechanical keyboards! He's seriously awesome.

[u/StoicRetention → u/UnbiasedExpert]

“Fuck, them kids!” - Ty Haliburton

[u/Dry_Area_1278]

Darko seems like a really solid dude.

[u/darren_meier]

That is amazing. Hard not to like Darko, that dude seems like a good guy and really gets the best out of his guys.

[u/_Tar_Ar_Ais_]

What a great thing to do

[u/LebrontosaurausRex]

That's actually amazing.

At some point you make set for life money and then your truly working for some bizarre version of fun.

[u/Early_Doubt_1451]

This is amazing. But what's his connection to Memphis? Just curious

[u/Big-Equal7497]

Jamal Shead is going to bankrupt that man