After 41 games, the Toronto Raptors are exactly halfway through the 2023-24 NBA season. Carrying a 16-25 record to date, they sit 12th in the Eastern Conference and are 2.5 games out of the final spot in the Play-In Tournament.
A 12-20 start to the season ultimately forced Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster to admit that the 2022-23 team they kept their faith in (as opposed to blowing it up in favour of finding Scottie Barnes-aged championship level supporting players to develop) was not going to find any more considerable success anytime soon transferring into 2024, and were becoming more at risk of seeing Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby walk right out of the front door for free, much like Fred VanVleet last offseason.
Masai has never really seen as much backlash from the Raps faithful as when FVV signed his monstrous deal in Houston, not because we wanted to re-sign him, but because we were left with the reality that there was an opportunity for significant return at or prior to the trade deadline the year before. As previously stated, Masai wasn’t ready to admit that that core wasn’t done winning, and he wasn’t alone.
Siakam & OG Out, RJ and IQ In
With the front office finding new homes for the expiring contracts of two of the last three NBA champion Toronto Raptors, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam, it has become apparent that the next championship timeline for the Toronto Raptors has officially shifted to match the career trajectories of Scottie Barnes and new Dinos RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.
While the instinct is to tank, the Raptors are in an interesting spot. The fate of what’s likely to be our next highest 1st-round draft selection lays in the hands of the Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers. The Raptors parted ways with their 2024 1st-rounder, sending it to San Antonio top-6 protected in their trade package for Jakob Poeltl. The 2024 draft class is widely considered to be the weakest of recent memory, meaning tanking to gamble on the draft lottery is less attractive. The Dinos are already the 7th worst team in the NBA and they just traded to get worse, so a natural tank may be incoming regardless. But, they also received three 1sts from the Indiana Pacers in yesterday’s Pascal Siakam deal, 2 of which are in the next draft and one of those is a rabbit hole of pick-swapping, but I’ll layout the trail.
The Oklahoma City Thunder owned the rights to the Rockets, Jazz, Clippers and their own 2024 1st-round picks. The Nuggets then agreed to a pick swap with OKC that involved receiving the least favourable of those 4 1sts. The Pacers then acquired those same rights from Denver in another pick swap. And that leads all the way to us, via our beloved Pascal Siakam.
New Look, Scottie-era Toronto Raptors
So, now we’re here. One player left from the 2019 championship squad in Chris Boucher, a revolutionized, youthful starting unit, an impending trade deadline and question marks surrounding multiple Raptors including Jakob Poeltl, Dennis Schroder, Thaddeus Young, Otto Porter Jr., and the newly acquired Bruce Brown. Even questions regarding Gary Trent Jr.‘s fit has seen its fair share of light on from Raps fans. That leaves less than a handful of Raptors all but destined to be apart of the Scottie Barnes-centred era in Toronto, mainly just RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.
The groundwork has been set, and the young core is apparent and budding. As mentioned in Masai’s press conference today, the Raptors are anticipating making more moves prior to this year’s deadline, meaning many of the aforementioned players who find themselves misfitting in this new aged Raptors roster, will likely hear their names floated around on multiplle fronts over the course of the next 3 weeks or so.
Looking forward to the next catchup beer!
Thierry’s