The Toronto Raptors aren’t yet ready to make any major decisions. With less than a month and a half until the trade deadline, Toronto apparently “isn’t there yet” on long-term decisions involving Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski in his weekly Threads chat. Raptors president Masai Ujiri has stated that this season’s focus would be on roster evaluation. He added that Toronto decided not to extend Pascal Siakam this summer because the team wanted to see how the former All-NBA forward would perform in the team’s new systems. Ujiri recently doubled down on that objective.
“I’m thinking of constructing around Scottie Barnes.” We have Pascal (Siakam), OG (Anunoby), young players, you know, Gradey (Dick), these guys coming up, and I feel we should let it rest and watch how these guys improve in the new system and then proceed from there,” Ujiri said earlier this month on TSN. So yet, Toronto has done nothing to imply that this club is good enough to compete for a playoff place. The Raptors are 11-18, 1.5 games behind the 10th seed in the East, and have yet to put together a three-game winning streak this season. To be fair, it’s unlikely that Toronto would be able to execute a deal this close to the trade deadline because teams across the league are still analyzing their rosters.
Trades are uncommon this close to the deadline, and offers for one or both of Toronto’s forwards are certain to improve as the deadline approaches.
That said, it’s difficult to see this Raptors roster as anything other than what its record suggests. Toronto is a dismal, below-average club that doesn’t seem to mesh on either end of the floor.
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