The Toronto Raptors traded their 2024 first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs for Jakob Poeltl at last season’s trade deadline in a win now move.
The Raptors went on to miss the play-in tournament and since have seen their roster go through major changes.
Toronto los Fred VanVleet in free agency to the Houston Rockets and then traded O.G. Anunoby to the New York Knicks and Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers.
The Raptors made it clear that they are focusing on a rebuild and the future. In a rebuild future draft picks will be important.
Going back to the 2024 first-round pick the Raptors gave the Spurs in the Poeltl trade it is top-6 protected. That means if the pick falls within the top 6 the Raptors keep it. If it falls outside of the top 6, the Spurs receive it.
Toronto has made it clear that they are not prioritizing winning for the rest of this season. As a result we have seen Toronto drop a bunch of games. The Raptors have lost 6 of their last 7 games are find themselves with the sixth worst record in the entire NBA.
If the Raptors were to finish the season with the sixth worst record in the league then they would have a 45.8 percent chance of keeping their 2024 first-round pick via Tankathon.com.
The Raptors currently look like a team that is ‘tanking’ and based on that it seems like the team is interested in trying to keep their pick for this year’s draft.
Raptors could have four draft picks in this year’s draft
If the Raptors do keep their pick for this upcoming draft they will have four draft picks in total. Their own, the two first-round picks acquired in the Siakam deal and the early second-rounder acquired in the Knicks deal.
There is no guarantee that the Raptors keep their own pick even if they continue losing and at some point it does have to convey, but that goes back to the poor decision of trading it in the first place.
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