Make that three straight victories for the Toronto Raptors, as they toppled one of the league's worst-performing teams at the moment, the Utah Jazz (who hold a 15-48 record). Despite the Raptors being in a similar situation to their Western counterparts, they aren't quite in that upper echelon of the worst of the worst—those franchises that seem more poised to contend in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes.
Toronto is definitely mediocre in its own right, but time and again—whether for better or worse—they're proving they’re just not bad enough to tank effectively. I mean, there’s no better example of the basketball gods cursing the Raptors' attempts to blatantly lose than their hilarious win over the Orlando Magic on March 2. If they continue to succeed and make it into play-in territory, it doesn't look particularly uplifting to see an average Raptors squad stuck in that 9-10 seed purgatory.
Raptors too strong for the weak but not strong enough for the elite
It doesn't help that Toronto was dealt a terrible hand regarding the strength of their remaining schedule. Their last 19 opponents are some of the NBA's weakest squads, according to Tankathon.com. I already touched on this subject in January, but I held out a bit of hope that they'd lose some of these obvious wins in their favor. Now that it's taking shape, I don't think that's going to be the case.
Does anyone really believe this version of Toronto can accomplish anything noteworthy in the playoffs? Their chances look very slim even in a weak Eastern Conference. Once they get knocked out, their lottery odds will likely place them in the 7-10 range, causing them to miss out on a generational prospect like Cooper Flagg.
I don't think it helped that teams like New Orleans, Orlando, and Philadelphia got stuck in the mix of terrible lottery teams, especially considering the high expectations for them to return to the playoff race to which they had become accustomed. Then you have the usual suspects like Brooklyn, Utah, Washington, and Charlotte, which I believe are more blatant tankers and have a much better shot at losing games because, to be completely honest, they absolutely suck.
And if the argument to counteract this is for the Raptors to just sit everyone out, then what's stopping the NBA from getting involved, or risking their integrity with fans who pay hard-earned money to see their favorite stars? You don't want to reach that point as a franchise, either. It's just an unrealistic and selfish expectation; after all, this is a business we're talking about.
Even if there was a small glimmer of hope for Toronto to somehow reach the pinnacle of success in the 2025 NBA Draft, they were absolutely blindsided by the circumstances quickly shifting the power balance in that lottery race.
I have very low hopes that Toronto will finish with one of the NBA's worst records. They might not make the play-in, but they're destined to land around the 11th or 12th seed in the Eastern Conference, which is where I predicted they would be prior to the start of the 2024-25 season. Blaming various scapegoats is just a coping mechanism at this point, and it might take Raptors fans some time to accept the bad news about where their draft odds are headed.
But hey, crazier things have happened, right? New Orleans and Atlanta lucked out in recent years to secure the top pick, despite not being among the league's worst; they were in similar situations to Toronto. However, optimism would need to be held pretty high to mirror that outcome.