The 2026 NBA trade deadline has officially passed, and the Toronto Raptors opted not to engage in any further deals, aside from their two small moves completed yesterday.
Raptors prioritized patience over action at this year's trade deadline
Those two moves, of course, are the Ochai Agbaji salary-cutting measure — which brought all-time great Chris Paul onto Toronto's books (though he's not expected to stay, as he's expected to be waived) — and the late-night acquisition of Trayce Jackson-Davis from the Golden State Warriors.
For a while in the Raptors rumor mill, the team's name was being linked to a myriad of star sweepstakes — targets like Trae Young, Anthony Davis, Domantas Sabonis, Ja Morant, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Of those names I mentioned, only two ended up on new teams (the same one, no less) — Young was dealt to Washington last month, and Davis was also traded to the Wizards yesterday. Otherwise, Sabonis, Morant, and, surprisingly, given all the buzz circulating in recent weeks, Giannis Antetokounmpo all remain in their current homes.
If you’ve kept up with my previous writings, you’ll know that the talks of Toronto being serious contenders in these big-time sweepstakes took a new turn. According to reports from insider Michael Grange, the Raptors' higher-ups indicated a focus on evaluating how their current core can compete immediately, with plans to reassess in the summer. Additionally, the earlier reports that GM Bobby Webster was under intense pressure to make a blockbuster, win-now move were largely dismissed.
Instead, Toronto's primary goal leading up to the deadline was to save money, with the expiring deal of Ochai Agbaji listed as the most likely move to achieve that — and they ended up doing so. Although, I'm sure Toronto would have liked to gauge rival teams' interest in taking on one of their major salaries, such as Immanuel Quickley or Jakob Poeltl, but reports indicated it would cost the Raptors' valuable draft assets — and the front office concluded that this wouldn't be a wise long-term decision.
I'm definitely happy that Toronto wasn't just throwing their first-round picks out there on the market like free candy. At the same time, I think this frugal stance comes a bit too late for some Raptors fans. For a team that handed out massive paydays to Immanuel Quickley, Jakob Poeltl, and Brandon Ingram — and in the Masai Ujiri era, was unafraid to trade draft picks to improve the roster (even though those deadline moves were baffling then and look even worse now) — shelling out high costs to keep these players around clearly shows the Raptors’ intention to compete now.
Raptors' focus on saving money and assets feels like a late development
They believe this core can accomplish the front office's goal of making the playoffs. While I certainly share the belief that this team is good enough to make the playoffs, there is still a ton of work to do across the roster to put them in a prime competitive position. However, Toronto chose to be extra careful for once and did not get involved in impact moves that could have raised their ceiling. I understand that Darko Rajakovic has emphasized this year is still part of the rebuilding process, but the team’s mix of being partly in rebuild mode and partly in win-now mode can be confusing for fans.
They're just good enough to be around the middle of the pack, sometimes teetering near the top, but the ceiling is quite low given how expensive their core is and the volatility of some of those players.
I can only imagine that many Raptors fans wished they had employed this strategy much earlier, instead of rushing to allocate a significant portion of their cap to players who haven't paid dividends so far. I respect the faith in Jakob Poeltl returning as a key piece to fixing things, but that's just one issue on their plate. Another glaring need is to improve the bench and depth chart by adding more proven scorers with veteran experience — someone like Ayo Dosunmu could have been huge for Toronto.
If a summer sizzler is when the Raptors are targeting to make a serious push, they need to determine what sacrifices they're willing to make to upgrade the roster. Which young assets are they prepared to part with? What draft picks can they afford to give up?