The Toronto Raptors won their first NBA championship in 2019, but over the last two seasons, the Raptors have missed the playoffs once and they struggled mightily to begin the 2021-22 season. 

At one point, the Raptors’ playoff chances were looking bleak at 21-21 and given how well other teams in the Eastern Conference were playing, but Toronto has won 9 of their last 11 games on the year to move to 32-25 on the season. 

They are now currently the 7-seed in the Eastern Conference, just one full game behind the Boston Celtics for the 6-seed and 5.5 games back from the 1-seed in the conference. 

The East is loaded with talented teams this season, not only making the margin for error low across the board, but creating plenty of opportunities late in the season for teams to go on a run and claim their playoff spot. 

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The Toronto Raptors are one of these teams seizing their opportunities and they could very well be back in the playoffs this season without having to fight for a playoff spot via the play-in tournament. 

Regardless of how the rest of the season goes for the Raptors, one thing we do know about this franchise is that they are going to be looking to upgrade their talent in the offseason, specifically at the center position.

Toronto looked to make a move at the trade deadline for a center, but were unable to find the right deal for themselves, resulting in them settling for veteran big man Thaddeus Young for more bench depth. 

Precious Achiuwa, Chris Boucher, Khem Birch and Pascal Siakam are the Raptors’ options at center, but the team would rather have Siakam at power-forward and Boucher is set to become a free agent in the offseason. 

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Adding another big to their rotation is something team president Masai Ujiri has been looking to do for years now, which is why the Raptors could target one of these three centers in the offseason.