Here's what the Toronto Raptors branding could have looked like with different names

It’s unimaginable now, but the Toronto Terriers could have been playing the Golden State Warriors tonight.

Or, the Scorpions.

Or, the Beavers.

Or, the Tarantulas.

When Toronto applied to create an NBA team back in 1993, they asked fans to choose the team name the following year. There were 10 options: Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs, Scorpions, T-Rex, Tarantulas, Terriers and Raptors.

Thankfully, Jurassic Park swayed our name toward dinosaur territory.

If Steven Spielberg’s science-fiction film wasn’t popular at the time, the Toronto Raptors might have never existed.

The team colours were red, purple, black and “Naismith silver” to honour James Naismith, the Almonte, Ont. native who invented basketball in 1891.

Art and Mechanical, a Toronto-based brand design company, took the creative liberty to create mock-ups of what our team logo could have looked like if we went in a different direction all those years ago.

This is how they imagined the different team logos. 

As we wait for the start of Game 6, we were left thinking what could have been if Jurassic Park the movie wasn't so damn popular in 1993. These are the Raptors brands that could have been - https://t.co/TpI4arMNcn #raptors #branding #design #Toronto #NBAFinals #nba #logo pic.twitter.com/2GaCX64w6I

— Art & Mechanical (@ArtandMech) June 13, 2019

This is what our jerseys could have looked like. 

Here are a couple more from our Raptors alternate team name exploration - Full exploration here - https://t.co/TpI4arMNcn #Raptors #design #branding #NBA #NBAFinal2019 #Toronto #TorontoRaptors pic.twitter.com/pbYEr9y5sb

— Art & Mechanical (@ArtandMech) June 13, 2019

Thanks to Jurassic Park, we'll never be known as the Tarantulas, Beavers or Scorpions. We will always remain the Toronto Raptors.