The Toronto Raptors have been the victims of some really rotten luck over the course of the 2020-21 season, but that can’t change the fact that this team is leaking coolant at the moment. Their poor run of form might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, inevitably forcing Toronto to part ways with star guard Norman Powell.
The former UCLA kid has officially moved into “star” status, as he is averaging 24.0 points per game over the last two months of play while shooting 53% from the field and 46% from 3-point range. Those kind of scoring numbers despite the injuries around him, highlighted by a 43-point performance against the Pistons, speak to his quality.
Unfortunately, due to the fact Toronto might miss the postseason for the first time in almost a decade and Powell’s looming player option, SportsNet’s Michael Grange believes that Powell getting traded is, unfortunately, an inevitability.
To paraphrase the words of Willie Nelson and Don Meredith, turn out the lights, Raptors fans. The party’s over. This team is officially in seller mode.
Think it's rather evident why the Raptors were thoroughly unwilling to surrender Norman Powell in a trade for Andre Drummond.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 18, 2021
Toronto registered trade interest in Drummond long ago, but Cleveland wanted Powell, who scored 43 tonight for Toronto in a narrow defeat at Detroit https://t.co/TyjyO7j045
The Toronto Raptors can’t contend and trade Norman Powell
The only way that trading away Powell and contending for a championship can make any sense is Masai Ujiri convincing himself that due to the borderline random nature of this season, they have as good a chance as any underdog of making a run via the play-in tournament. While that isn’t necessarily illogical, placing your whole trade deadline philosophy on entropy isn’t ideal.
The Raptors have just two draft picks in the next two seasons, and they could lose 40 nightly points of production if both Powell and Kyle Lowry leave in free agency. Ujiri, who has had to deal with rumors that he himself could leave this offseason, has to realize that if he decides to stick around and build Toronto into a winner.
The Raptors won’t be “bad” next year, as Nick Nurse has them in the playoff hunt despite a 2-8 start, a seven-game losing streak, playing a whopping ZERO games in Canada. However, this team right now is not going to win a championship, and it’s better to build for the future than languish in the doldrums.
Powell might be a potential free agent at the end of the season, but Toronto could be in line for a king’s ransom of picks given his hot streak. How do you turn that down?
The Raptors likely won’t make any earth-shattering moves. The stars are likely going, and they will be replaced with depth and picks. Powell has been the archetypal Raptor, as he developed from bench player to role player to stud, but his time in Toronto appears to be coming to a close.