Is the sky falling, or will the Toronto Raptors be OK?
Coming off an ugly back-to-back, which saw the Raptors play terribly for most of a loss in Detroit and then suffer perhaps their worst defeat of the whole season a night later, against the awful Sacramento Kings, this sure feels like a low point of a long season.
The timing isn’t great. The swoon, coupled with the fact Atlanta and Philadelphia both appear to be firing on all cylinders, has dropped Toronto to seventh in the Eastern Conference standings with only six games still to be played.
Other than a three-day blip early last month, the Raptors have held down a playoff spot since mid-December (with most of that time being spent in either fourth or fifth place in the conference).
Suddenly, though, the team finds itself in the dreaded play-in, with a mostly feel-good season possibly drifting toward disaster.
The Hawks are rampaging, the Sixers just scored 153 points without Joel Embiid in the lineup, now have Tyrese Maxey back in all-NBA form and Paul George turning back the clock to his prime as the Raptors are flailing, with key players Immanuel Quickley and Brandon Ingram banged up to the point they’ve missed recent games.
Plus, Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett are nowhere close to 100%, though they’re playing through it. Both had two of their worst performances of the season against the Kings and afterward Barrett seemed surprise by the whole team’s lack of fight.
“This is a game we’re supposed to win, no matter what,” Barrett told reporters while up at the podium post-game. “We can’t lose this game.”
Yet, they did. Now what? Quickley’s Plantar Fasciitis is improving at least a bit, but it’s unclear when he’ll be able to play again. Quickley’s shooting is badly missed. He and the others who are banged up will likely just be playing through ailments the rest of the way.
The only good news for the Raptors was Orlando got drilled by Atlanta (despite finally getting Franz Wagner back after a long absence) and remained two games behind Toronto, tied with Charlotte.
As well, a horrendous Heat performance at home against Boston dropped Miami to 10th and they and Atlanta have played one more game each than the other four also in the play-in/playoff mix.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Friday in Memphis is not a must-win game for the Raptors, but it’s pretty close. A loss to a second straight terrible team playing for nothing would potentially cause the team’s wheels to completely fall off.
It would be hard to recover from two straight shocking losses against weak sides that should be easily handled. The Sixers host a very good Minnesota team that night, so if the Raptors take care of business and the Wolves do too, Toronto could be back above the play-in line in quick order.
If not, well, they’ll have to win in Boston against a Celtics team that suddenly might be the class of the conference.
It looks like things are going to come down to the wire in the East behind the Top 4.
As a reminder, the seventh-place team will host eighth place on April 14. The winner earns the seventh seed, the loser hosts the winner of the nine vs. 10 game (eg. If Raptors finish seventh it’s possible they add two extra home games should they lose the first one).
In the West, the first six playoff teams appear set (Oklahoma City and San Antonio are vying for first place, the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver for third, Houston and Minnesota for fifth). Phoenix will likely host the eighth-place finisher (either the Clippers or Portland) and it looks like Golden State will finish 10th, needing to win two road play-in games to earn the eighth seed.
MARTIN ONE OF G LEAGUE’S BEST
Raptors rookie Alijah Martin, taken 39th in the 2025 NBA draft, finished second in G League rookie of the year voting and third in defensive player of the year voting, capping a strong freshman season.
About a year ago, Martin finished an outstanding season at Florida by helping the Gators win the NCAA title.
He has only gotten into 19 games for the Raptors so far, but has a presence on the court and it doesn’t seem like it will be too long until he is a part of head coach Darko Rajakovic’s rotation.
SETTING THE PACE
Canada’s WNBA expansion team, the Toronto Tempo, finally will start putting its roster together on Friday. That’s when the WNBA will hold its expansion draft for both Toronto and Portland.
The new teams will alternate picks, starting with the Fire selecting first (the Tempo will pick ahead of Portland in the coming WNBA rookie draft, sixth overall).
Each existing team had to submit a five-player protected list ahead of the draft.
Up to two players can be selected from each existing team. Each expansion team can only select one player who will be an unrestricted free agent.
Chicago already made deals with both Toronto and Portland to not lose any players in the expansion draft.
@WolstatSun