Raptors News: Streak broken, injury updates, draft chaos, trade pitch

Raptors Injury Update

While RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Gary Trent Jr. and Bruce Brown are now all back in the lineup, the Raptors have not made any positive updates about the returns of Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl. Head coach Darko Rajakovic simply stated on Sunday that both were progressing but that he wasn't sure if either would make it back before the end of the season.

With only four games remaining the answer to that question appears to be no, the Raptors will not see either player on the court before the end of the season. That is not a massive blow for a team that is not trying to win games at this point, but it will mean the end to Barnes' award hopes and prevent the team from seeing its best lineups on the court. That will all need to wait until next season now.

Olynyk Trade

The Toronto Raptors surprisingly pivoted to add a veteran at this year's Trade Deadline, bringing in Canadian big man Kelly Olynyk. The theory of the move is obvious, whether or not you agree in the asset cost: the Raptors added a skilled shooting big to pair with Scottie Barnes, someone who can mentor and develop young players and would want to stick around despite the rebuild before of his ties to the area.

What if the Raptors backtracked on that deal almost immediately, however? That was the theory behind an offseason trade idea proposed by Fanspo, and we analyzed the deal for the Raptors and decided whether or not it made sense for Toronto to pull the trigger.