It’s one of the worst weeks in the NBA calendar… and right as the NBA Trade Deadline is about to expire, the Toronto Raptors have back-to-back games. Lovely.
The Raptors started (and probably ended) their trade action Wednesday afternoon with a small deal to move Ochai Agbaji to Brooklyn in a three-team deal that also brought Chris Paul to Toronto. Chris Paul won’t report, and the move was to offload Agbaji’s salary and bring the team under the tax. A bookkeeping thing. Toronto will either move Paul before
tomorrow’s deadline or buy him out after.
This also now means it’s likely the Raptors won’t make another big move. I could be wrong, of course, but it doesn’t seem likely that a trade involving RJ Barrett or Jakob Poeltl will happen.
Now, I try not to let internet comments get to me, but some of the stuff people were tweeting in reaction to the Raptors’ moves (or lack of)… we need to talk about. Why are you all so pressed? Chill, fam.
The Raptors were a lottery team literally less than a year ago. While they’ve definitely outperformed expectations this season, they aren’t about to go on a championship run — they were never expected to. Trust the process a bit more. I saw someone say the Raptors are going to be “the saddest 1s round exit” this season… okay? It’s their first playoff appearance in years. What do you expect? Anything more would be a great time, but it’s year one of building up again… they aren’t about to win a ring.
This is all why playing a back-to-back right when the trade deadline is happening is a little weird. It’s a little overstimulating, it’s oddly emotional.
It’s also why people are going to overreact to this Raptors loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves… a lot. After leading by a wide margin, the Timberwolves got a few stops and closed the gap. They got some good shots in, and won 128-126.
Some of the over reaction to tonight is warranted, of course. The Raptors dropped a 15-point lead in the third and fourth quarters to lose a game they should have won. They lack depth in the center position. Their shooting can be hot and cold.
Games like this are just part of the process, though. It’s almost a stark reminder how early on this team is when it comes to building. Is it tough to see them lose a game like that? Yeah, they could have and should have won. Are we going to catastrophize about it though? People will, and it’s a waste of energy.
Back-to-backs have the positive though, of forcing us to forget about things quickly. There is no time to sit here and lament about the loss, what they could have done different, etc. The team itself doesn’t even have time to do that, they won’t even be able to really look at film before tomorrow’s game. All you can do is forget it and move on.
There also isn’t much chance this loss affects what will happen at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. Can’t wait to forget about that and move on, too. The Raptors are back tomorrow night, against the Chicago Bulls. By the time they tip off, the deadline will have passed, this team will be (mostly) locked in for the season, and we can stop prophesizing and catastrophizing. Maybe. Maybe not.
