{"id":115414,"date":"2025-01-01T16:37:27","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T21:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=115414"},"modified":"2025-01-01T16:37:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T21:37:27","slug":"raptors-looking-change-fortune-historic-2024-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/01\/raptors-looking-change-fortune-historic-2024-close\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Raptors Looking For Change In Fortune After Historic Close to 2024: Bright Spots, Trade Candidates & Injury Updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Raptors<\/a> were expected to take the next step in their rebuild in 2024-25. However, things haven’t panned out as planned, and the Raptors<\/a>, looking for a change in fortune after a historic close, are perhaps a team to watch at the trade deadline. Here is a look at possible Raptors trade candidates and injury updates.<\/p>\n

Toronto had its roughest year in over a decade last season, finishing with a 25-57 record. While the Raptors weren’t expected to compete for an NBA<\/a> Championship this year, it was believed they would increase their win total and possibly contend for a play-in spot in coach Darko Rajokovic’<\/a>s second season. But injuries, shooting, and defense have been huge problems.<\/p>\n

Toronto is in 14th place in the Eastern Conference<\/a> with a 7-26 record. Their seven victories are tied for the second-fewest in the league, and their minus-8.2 scoring differential is the fifth-worst.<\/p>\n

Toronto Raptors Looking For Change In Fortune After Historic Close to 2024: Bright Spots, Trade Candidates & Injury Updates<\/h2>\n

Toronto enters its New Year’s Day<\/a> game at Scotiabank Arena against Brooklyn<\/a> on an 11-game losing streak, including seven straight at home. To make matters worse, the Raptors have been historically bad over the last three games and are coming off a franchise-worst loss to Boston<\/a> yesterday night.<\/p>\n

Despite shooting poorly from the opening tip, Toronto kept things relatively close against Boston in the first half. Leading 45-38 at halftime, the Celtics outscored the Raptors 45-18 in the third quarter. Overall, the C’s more than doubled the Raptors’ output over the last 24 minutes (80-36) en route to a 125-71 victory.<\/p>\n

Raptors Set History<\/h3>\n

The 56-point defeat was Toronto’s worst in franchise history, eclipsing the 48-point setback to Minnesota<\/a> on April 3. The Raptors were outshot by 54.1%-to-31%, including 51.2%-to-25% from deep (22-to-10 made threes), by the Celtics. The Raps also committed 21 turnovers.<\/p>\n

Last night marked the third straight game that Toronto registered a franchise mark, and none of them were good.\u00a0 Last Thursday, Toronto allowed a franchise-high 155 points in a 29-point loss. On Sunday, the Raptors then committed a franchise-mark for turnovers in a 136-107 setback to Atlanta. And with the 125 points allowed to Boston, the Raptors became the first team in 35 years to give up 430 points to opponents in a three-game stretch, per Michael Grange of SN Sportsnet.<\/a><\/p>\n

It hasn’t all been bad, and the Raptors should get better as their health improves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a roller-coaster season, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to understand,\u201d Rajokovic told Grange before the loss to Boston. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be ups and downs, and also improvement. Progress is never linear\u2026 at some point you get tired, you get bumped, you gotta learn how to bounce back. There is a lot of adversity, and we\u2019re feeling that adversity, and it\u2019s good. We\u2019re gonna use that adversity to our advantage, to get information that we need to improve, to focus on the most important things, and to see the growth. That\u2019s what this whole season is about, and to also learn who can rise to challenge and who cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bright Spots and Hope<\/h4>\n

Toronto has already used 19 players this year, and 14 players have seen at least 14 minutes of play in a game. Rajokovic has used 18 different starting lineups; the most commonly used has done so just eight times. His projected opening night first unit of Immanuel Quickley<\/a>, RJ Barrett,<\/a> Scottie Barnes,<\/a> Jakob Poeltl<\/a>, and Gradey Dick<\/a> have yet to play together.<\/p>\n

Injuries have played a major factor in this instability. Quickley has only played three games, Barnes has missed 13 contests, while Poeltl, Barrett, and Dick have missed six games apiece.\u00a0 Ochai Agbaji<\/a> and rookie Jonathan Mogbo<\/a> are the only players to play in all 33 contests, while five Raptors have played in at least 30 contests.<\/p>\n

On the positive side, Bruce Brown Jr.<\/a> made his debut recently and has contributed 18 points and five in 38 minutes of action in his two appearances. Barnes has also been relatively healthy lately, playing in 16 of the Raptors’ last 18 contests and playing well with eight double-doubles and one triple-double. Additionally, Barrett has continued his offensive uptick since returning home after the New York trade last January.<\/p>\n

Twenty-year-old rookie Ja’Kobe Walter,<\/a> who has missed 15 games this year, has shown glimpses of his potential and has been a regular in the Raptors rotation. The No. 8 pick in 2024 has produced one double-double and reached double-figures five times — scoring a career-high 27 points against Houston a few days before Christmas.<\/p>\n

Dick has shown growth as a scorer rather than just being a shooter. Mogbo has rebounded the ball well and demonstrated some defensive ability, while Jamal Shead<\/a>, the No. 45 overall pick in June, has shown some ability to facilitate an offense. Rookie wing Jamison Battle<\/a>, on a two-way deal, has appeared in 30 games and shown some 3-and-D ability.<\/p>\n

Injuries<\/h3>\n

Toronto has five players listed on the injury report for tonight’s game against Brooklyn. Brown has been ruled out due to injury management, as the Nets’ contest is the second of a back-to-back.<\/p>\n

Barrett, Dick, Quickley, and Walter are all questionable, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca<\/a>. It is a little bit of a surprise that Quickley has been upgraded to questionable, as he expected to be out until at least next week. Quickley has been out since November 10, so he will likely be on a minutes restriction.<\/p>\n

“Immanuel Quickley is questionable tonight for the Raptors! First time he hasn’t been a firm “out” in a while. Bruce Brown is out, as it’s the 2nd night of a back-to-back and he’s recently returned from injury. RJ Barrett (illness) and Gradey Dick (hamstring) are questionable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If Barrett and Dick sit out tonight’s game, it will mark the second straight game each has missed. Murphy added that Walter is a late addition to the injury report.<\/p>\n

“Ja\u2019Kobe Walter has a sprained finger<\/a> and is questionable now too.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Will Toronto Make a Trade Before Deadline?<\/h3>\n

Toronto could make a few small trades but don’t expect another blockbuster like the one that brought Barrett and Quickley to The North. Brown, Poeltl, Chris Boucher<\/a>, Kelly Olynyk<\/a>, and Davion Mitchell<\/a> are the most likely to not finish the season with the Raptors. Brown, Mitchell, and Boucher are on expiring contracts.<\/p>\n

Here is what Sports Illustrated’s Aaron Rose<\/a> said about the Raptors’ trade candidates:<\/p>\n

\n

If they sell, Bruce Brown is the most likely to move. Toronto tried to trade him for a first-round pick last season but found no takers. It\u2019s unlikely he\u2019ll fetch one now either, but his $23 million expiring salary and championship experience could still attract contenders looking for depth.<\/p>\n

Jakob Poeltl is another name that\u2019s likely to generate buzz. Trading him would firmly position Toronto near the bottom of the standings and improve their lottery odds this spring. Poeltl\u2019s defensive impact and finishing around the rim make him a valuable trade piece, but moving him would leave a glaring hole in Toronto\u2019s frontcourt.<\/p>\n

Kelly Olynyk and Chris Boucher are also trade candidates. Olynyk\u2019s shooting and versatility appeal to contenders, while Boucher\u2019s expiring contract and manageable salary make him easier to move. If one of them goes, it\u2019s likely to be Boucher.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What Does Toronto Want In Trade Return?<\/h3>\n

While the Raptors could take “bad” contracts back for any trade, given the current state of the franchise, it makes the most sense that they want as many draft picks as possible. The Raptors have 10 players under contract for next season, including two-way player Ulrich Chomche,<\/a><\/p>\n

With Barnes’ five-year, $224 million extension kicking in next year, the Raptors project to have $1.3 million in cap space. More importantly, the project to be $36.2 million below the first tax apron. Toronto has some valuable future draft picks but not a treasure chest.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s going to be picks, picks, picks for the Toronto Raptors this trade deadline, said Chelsea Leite of SB Nation Raptors HQ<\/a>. “Along with their probable lottery pick coming in as a result of their… subpar season, the Raptors will likely have another active draft night in 2025. In 2024, they ended up drafting four players by the end after going in with just two picks. They got Ja\u2019Kobe Walter 19th overall, Jonathan Mogbo 30th overall, Jamal Shead 45th overall, and Ulrich Chomche 57th overall.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Raptors were expected to take the next step in their rebuild in 2024-25. However, things haven’t panned out as planned, and the Raptors, looking for a change in fortune after a historic close, are perhaps a team to watch at the trade deadline. Here is a look at possible Raptors trade candidates and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":115537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,14,4721],"tags":[4839,4269,4831,3178,49324,517,4485,1964,3852],"class_list":["post-115414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-raptors","category-trade-rumors","tag-bruce-brown-jr","tag-davion-mitchell","tag-gradey-dick","tag-immanuel-quickley","tag-jakobe-walter","tag-kelly-olynyk","tag-ochai-agbaji","tag-rj-barrett","tag-scottie-barnes"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115414"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115542,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115414\/revisions\/115542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}