Raptors News: Final record, Quickley return, players not coming back

WNBA Expansion in Toronto?

The WNBA Draft took place on Monday night, with 36 players selected to immediately join their WNBA teams and prepare for the upcoming season, which tips off in less than a month on May 14th. Canadian standout forward Aaliyah Edwards was selected sixth overall by the Washington Mystics after her strong run to the Final Four with the UConn Huskies this season.

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert spoke ahead of the draft, and one of the topics that she covered was that of expansion. The Golden State Warriors' ownership will be starting up a Bay-area team for the 2025 season, bringing the league's total to 13 teams, and Engelbert laid out a plan to expand to 16 teams by 2028.

The potential locations for expansion teams include Philadelphia, Portland, Nashville, South Florida and, most interestingly for Raptors fans, Toronto.

Women's basketball has never been bigger, and with star talent entering the WNBA each season the league needs to expand to make room for them. Toronto would be an ideal site for a new team given its size, basketball culture and the growing women's basketball tradition in Canada.

What's Next?

With the NBA regular season over, there is very little for the Toronto Raptors to do over the next month other than dig into scouting work for both the 2024 NBA Draft and the upcoming crop of 2024 free agents. A number of former Raptors are playing in the postseason, including Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Kyle Lowry, Kawhi Leonard and DeMar DeRozan.

In fact, Lowry and DeRozan will both be in action in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament on Wednesday night. If the Philadelphia 76ers lose and the Chicago Bulls win, the two could then face off of Friday night with the final playoff berth on the line.