Toronto Raptors

Why did they not trade Kyle Lowry at the NBA trade deadline? The Toronto Raptors had offers being sent in by the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers for Lowry at this past trade deadline and yet they decided to hold onto their veteran big man only to miss the playoffs and end up with their worst record since the 2011-12 season. 

Maybe the Raptors held onto Kyle Lowry as a nice gesture to say “farewell” to arguably their greatest player in team history, but nonetheless, not moving Lowry at the trade deadline is looking more and more like a terrible business move for the Toronto Raptors. Now, the veteran guard is heading to South Beach and while Toronto does end up with Precious Achiuwa, they may not get Goran Dragic. 

While he is included in the sign-and-trade deal to Toronto, rumors are that Dragic does not want to play with the Raptors and has the Dallas Mavericks at the top of his list of teams he would like to play for, most likely because of his relationship with fellow Slovenian basketball player Luka Doncic. 

What happens with Goran Dragic is something to keep an eye on, but overall, free agency has not been kind to the Toronto Raptors. They lost Kyle Lowry, may have to buy-out Goran Dragic from his contract and they missed out on signing Richaun Holmes, who they had a lot of interest in going into free agency. 

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Other than bringing back Gary Trent Jr. on a three-year, $54M deal, the Toronto Raptors struck out on pretty much every other deal they wanted to make in free agency, which could result in them taking a step back. Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Gary Trent Jr. and now rookie Scottie Barnes make up a talented core, but who knows if the Raptors will take this opportunity to rebuild.