Masai Ujiri and the Toronto Raptors have officially seen their standout 2022 season come to a close after crashing out of the postseason last night. While this wasn’t the result many fans had hoped would come true, it’s hard to call this campaign anything less than a massive success.
The Raptors won 48 games and earned the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference while helping Scottie Barnes earn Rookie of the Year honors. Considering that they didn’t even make the play-in the year before, Toronto’s rapid improvement has set themselves up for a very promising future.
Even with that caveat, the Raptors are going into the offseason with some holes that need fixing. Ujiri is expected to completely remake the team’s bench as they try to get a more robust second unit that could be more conducive to contending alongside some of the Eastern Conference’s best.
These 4 Raptors players might be wearing different jerseys next season. Be them seldom-used reserves or veterans who could be ditched in favor of someone with more potential, fans need to brace for any one of these 4 having a new home by the time next year rolls around.
4 Toronto Raptors who will not be back next year.
4. Svi Mykhailiuk
Mykhailiuk was signed late in the offseason, but he managed to quickly endear himself to fans by providing instant offense up the bench. However, he quickly lost his spot in the rotation. It’s probably best for both parties if they just go their separate ways when the season ends.
Mykhailiuk scored just 4.6 points per game this season, playing more than 10 minutes in a game just twice since the start of the new year. Even though he was billed as a microwave scorer, Mykhailiuk shot just 39% from the field and slightly under 31% from 3-point range this season.
The Toronto Raptors need to part with Svi Mykhailiuk.
The Raptors will likely spend what limited financial space they have on making sure that their standout guards in the starting five are backed up by quality shooters. Mykhailiuk is likely not going to fall back into Nick Nurse’s good graces throughout one offseason given his production.
Mykhailiuk needs to go somewhere that will give him enough minutes to rediscover his shot and work out the kinks that plagued him in the regular season. Toronto just does not seem like a good fit for him at this moment in time. Still, his NBA career is far from finished.