3 reasons not to panic if Raptors don’t acquire Kevin Durant

1. The Raptors’ roster is just fine

Part of the reason that Toronto can sit back and play the waiting game is the fact that they have unlimited confidence in their roster and the ability to build a winner without Durant. They are in no such mood to get desperate and fork over all those assets for KD.

The Raptors are led by a Rookie of the Year in Scottie Barnes, an All-Star point guard in Fred VanVleet, and an All-NBA forward in Pascal Siakam. With Anunoby and Trent rounding out the top five, that lineup could be good enough to make some noise in the East.

The Toronto Raptors could succeed without Kevin Durant.

Toronto is not dealing from a position of panic. They can come right in with their old starting five and much-improved bench and end up earning a playoff spot without getting stuck in the play-in. Considering how young they are, Toronto might do well to stay with their current configuration.

Trading for Durant would mean that the Raptors would abandon their year-long plan to rebuild through the draft and build everything around Durant (who is riskier than most might assume). Keeping the current lineup is by no means a bad choice.