The Toronto Raptors regular season is winding down as the final week approaches.
While expectations were to contend for a Play-In spot, Toronto finds themselves on the outside looking in.
Which makes sense for the Raptors to shut it down and focus on strengthening their draft odds. Unfortunately, they may not be in the upper echelon to bring in the top prospects.
However, anything is better than missing out on selecting in the lottery, like last year. Currently, the Raptors look to secure the 7th best lottery odds as their season comes to a close.
In order to achieve that goal, Toronto needs to lose one more time or the San Antonio Spurs need to win once.
Looking at remaining schedules, the Raptors schedule is light. The Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio are left. It will be interesting to see if it boils down to the final game against the Spurs.
For San Antonio, their schedule is more tough with the Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns and the Raptors.
Without De’Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs play three teams above .500. So, the Portland and Toronto game are what fans are going to focus on.
All in all, next season is what truly matters for the Raptors. But, being in position to bring in another capable, young prospect is enticing.
Toronto’s bench production has not been great this season, so they need to use tools like the draft to bolster their depth.
Raptors officially eliminated from Play-In contention
With the easiest schedule remaining for a good chuck of this second half of the season, the Raptors had an outside chance to move into a Play-In Tournament spot.
A team they were chasing was the Chicago Bulls and they faced each other on April 1. Unfortunately, Chicago came away with the win to effectively crush those dreams and eliminate Toronto from Play-In contention.
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