The Toronto Raptors appeared to be making a Play-In Tournament push out of the All-Star break.
The team finally won three straight games and they were eyeing the Atlanta Hawks for the final play-in spot in the East.
However, then All-Star Scottie Barnes got hurt on March 1 against the Golden State Warriors. This marked the beginning of the end of the Raptors season.
Barnes had surgery to repair a fracture to the third metacarpal bone of his left hand. He has been out indefinitely. Jakob Poeltl also underwent surgery on his hand right after. Then Chris Boucher partially tore his MCL in his right knee and he has been out.
More recently, RJ Barrett has been dealing with the death of his younger brother Nathan so he has understandably been away from the team.
Then Immanuel Quickley was sidelined due to personal reasons.
Gary Trent Jr. has been dealing with back spasms. He was out against the Oklahoma City Thunder on March 22.
The Raptors have been riddled with injuries and it has resulted in them losing a season-high 10 games in a row.
Veteran center Kelly Olynyk recently spoke about the Raptors long list of injuries via Postmedia:
“It’s almost comical at some points where you’re just like, ‘What do we have like seven rotation players out?’ It’s really, really tough.”
Olynyk also talked about the adjustment of playing with new teammates:
“After all the moves and stuff, now we have a group of guys who have never played together and now you have no continuity.”
The Raptors have 11 games left on the season but with the way things are going it can not end soon enough.
Raptors eye 2024 NBA Draft
Toronto has done their best in terms of staying competitive with the personnel available. However, they have simply been outmatched in most of the games they have played in.
With the Raptors season all but over, it is time to start to look ahead to an important 2024 NBA Draft for this team.
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