The Toronto Raptors have emerged in league circles as a team with ambitions to make a major move this offseason. This maneuvering comes on the heels of their trade for Brandon Ingram at the deadline along with the Boston Celtics expected to take a step back next season due to the Jayson Tatum injury and luxury tax concerns, along with the potential availability of Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“I don’t want to get too far afield from this, but since this has come up, the Raptors are a team that is starting to make noise within the league about looking for a big fish,” said ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on Sunday’s Hoop Collective Podcast. “And, you know, I think because-and I don’t want to get away from this, but I’ve started it myself-if you’re an Eastern Conference team that’s in the middle of the pack, you’re looking at the teams in front of you going, ‘Some of them may not be able to come together, may be able to stay together.’ Boston is hurt, and so there are some teams that sniff the ability to make a move, and I think Toronto is one of those teams.
“And so naturally, any team that wants to make a move this summer, especially a team in the Eastern Conference, you’re going to have Giannis on the board. But Toronto, I think, is going to try-from their initial conversations, teams in the league are getting the impression that Toronto is going to try to do something.
“I had an executive tell me yesterday that he thinks this could be-could be, could be-an explosive summer. You know, just as Shams [Charania] said the other day, but like, this-you know, this is the whole league. People are saying that this-the amount of activity and calls happening in the league right now is at a much higher volume than has been in years past.
“I know it does not mean it’s going to happen, but Toronto is one of those teams that is sitting there on the balls of its feet, which is interesting.”
The Raptors have reset their roster around Scottie Barnes over the past few years by letting Fred VanVleet walk in free agency along with their trades of OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam. Toronto acquired Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett in the Anunoby trade with the New York Knicks.
The Raptors have four outright first round picks available to trade along with three swaps and one protected pick. Masai Ujiri previously made a blockbuster trade for Kawhi Leonard in 2018 that led to their title in 2019. At his end of season media availability, Ujiri spoke of the team’s A-plus culture and guaranteed they’d win another championship.
