For a team that won just 30 games last season, many didn\u2019t have the Toronto Raptors making the NBA playoffs on their Bingo card this year, let alone finishing in the top five.<\/p>\n
Popular sports podcast host Bill Simmons was so doubtful the Raptors would be in the postseason that he made a wager with former NBA player turned analyst Kendrick Perkins. Now, after Toronto clinched the fifth seed<\/a>, Raptors All-Star Scottie Barnes is asking the podcaster to pay up.<\/p>\n Last June,\u00a0Perkins said on NBA Today that he believed the Raptors would finish as a top-six team in the Eastern Conference this season. Simmons fired back on his own show, calling the take “crazy” and saying Toronto would be nothing more than a “fun place to visit” during the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n I\u2019m honored that you sat in a car for 2+ minutes to scold me on your iPhone like this, even though we are a combined age of like 92.<\/p>\n If you actually think Toronto will be top-6 in the East in anything other than \u201cmost fun place to visit\u201d \u2014 let\u2019s wager on it ASAP.<\/p>\n
The two agreed to a wager, and after the Raptors improved their record to 46-36 with a win Sunday over the Brooklyn Nets, Perkins made sure social media knew he kept the receipts.<\/p>\n “Somebody tell [Bill Simmons] he can just make a donation to my non-profit that’s for the youth in communities that are less fortunate,” Perkins tweeted just hours after Toronto secured a playoff spot.<\/p>\n Simmons has yet to address the bet on his show or social media, but Barnes soon joined the conversation, telling the podcaster to settle up.<\/p>\n Barnes replied to Perkins\u2019 tweet, saying: “send dat asap.”<\/p>\n send dat asap!<\/p>\n
Perkins, 41, played 14 seasons in the NBA, including the first eight years of his career with the Boston Celtics. Simmons, 56, is an outspoken Boston sports fan who rose to prominence as an NFL and NBA columnist with ESPN, and now hosts one most popular sports podcasts in the U.S.: The Bill Simmons Podcast.<\/p>\n
\n\u2014 Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) June 26, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\u2014 Scott Barnes (@ScottBarnes561) April 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n