{"id":73339,"date":"2024-04-15T02:02:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T06:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=73339"},"modified":"2024-04-15T02:02:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T06:02:26","slug":"raptors-draft-picture-getting-clearer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/15\/raptors-draft-picture-getting-clearer\/","title":{"rendered":"Raptors\u2019 Draft Picture Getting Clearer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the 2023-24 regular season officially over, the Toronto Raptors end their roller coaster season with a 25-57 record.<\/p>\n<p>Retooling rather than rebuilding, the Raptors enter the 2024 offseason with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/nba\/toronto-raptors\/yearly\/cap\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">limited financial flexibility<\/a>. At minimum, they\u2019re projected to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/nba\/cap\/2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$26.9 million above the cap<\/a>. Their best roster-building tool may be the $10.2 million trade exception that they can use until Jan. 17.<\/p>\n<h2>Raptors\u2019 Draft Picture Getting Clearer<\/h2>\n<p>The Raptors control two first-round picks in the 2024 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Toronto now has 3 picks in the top-31 of the June Draft. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1sq5JXRRSb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/1sq5JXRRSb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BobbyMarks42\/status\/1779592916689641976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 14, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Toronto retained their original first-rounder, a top-six protected pick that they were supposed to send to the San Antonio Spurs for their acquisition of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/poeltja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jakob Poeltl<\/a>, after failing to overcome the loss of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barnesc01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scottie Barnes<\/a>. The Raptors are the odds-on favorite to land the sixth overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<p>The Raptors will also have a mid-first round pick. The Indiana Pacers dealt the selection to the Raptors in their trade package for All-Star forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/siakapa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pascal Siakam<\/a>. A top-three protected pick, it was all but guaranteed to convey.<\/p>\n<p>Toronto notably has control of the 31st overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft as well. The Raptors acquired this pick when they sent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/anunoog01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OG Anunoby<\/a> to the New York Knicks. Originally belonging to Detroit Pistons, the Knicks landed the pick in a draft night for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/grimequ01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quentin Grimes<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Raptors Draft Outlook<\/h3>\n<p>The Raptors will have several options in the 2024 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n<p>Because they have established talents like Barnes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/barrerj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RJ Barrett<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/q\/quickim01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Immanuel Quickley<\/a> on the roster, they could use one or more of the picks to acquire a veteran star. In such a scenario, their <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/02\/08\/nba-news-toronto-raptors-keeping-bruce-brown\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">decision to hold onto<\/a> the position-less <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownbr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bruce Brown<\/a> would make more sense. He\u2019s always been an odd fit in Toronto\u2019s rotation. However, his $23 million expiring contract can be used to match salaries and sweeten the deal.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the youth of their current core, they could keep their lottery selection. In fact, because the 2024 NBA Draft <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/01\/multiple-nba-executives-believe-2024-nba-draft-is-the-worst-ever\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">isn\u2019t particularly strong<\/a>, packaging picks to move up in the lottery could be easier than normal. If they take this route, targeting a shot-blocker such as Alexandre Sarr or Donovan Clingan goes a long way towards improving their defense. Colorado\u2019s Cody Williams, Kentucky\u2019s Reed Sheppard, and JL Bourg\u2019s Zaccharie Risacher also fit the team\u2019s needs as 3-and-D role players.<\/p>\n<p>If drafting for potential, G League Ignite forward Ron Holland may have the highest upside of any prospect. A two-way playmaker with a high motor, he has the hallmarks of a future All-Star. Just 18 years old, the Dallas native averaged 19.5 points per game last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the 2023-24 regular season officially over, the Toronto Raptors end their roller coaster season with a 25-57 record. Retooling rather than rebuilding, the Raptors enter the 2024 offseason with limited financial flexibility. At minimum, they\u2019re projected to be $26.9 million above the cap. Their best roster-building tool may be the $10.2 million trade exception [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":73356,"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":[14,1608,62,3],"tags":[49176,98,1082,1754,49134,49172,49147],"class_list":["post-73339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-raptors","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-cody-williams","tag-nba-draft","tag-og-anunoby","tag-pascal-siakam","tag-reed-sheppard","tag-ron-holland","tag-zaccharie-risacher"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73339","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\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}