{"id":443255,"date":"2026-01-30T15:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/443255\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T15:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T15:33:10","slug":"the-raptors-are-funky-confusing-nba-trade-deadline-sleepers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/443255\/","title":{"rendered":"The Raptors Are Funky, Confusing NBA Trade Deadline Sleepers"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA<\/a>NBA<\/a>Toronto\u2019s weird success has it circling big ideas\u2014and bigger names\"\"Getty Images\/Ringer illustration\"\"<\/a>By Michael Pina<\/a>Jan. 30, 1:26 pm UTC \u2022 10 min<\/p>\n

I\u2019m never surprised by the outcome of a Toronto Raptors game. Give up 138 points in a gut-punch loss to the Washington Wizards? Naturally. Throw a blanket on the Thunder in Oklahoma City to take down the defending champs? Right on. Nearly 50 games into the season, and less than a week out from the trade deadline, I can\u2019t tell if being completely unfazed by these results is a good or bad thing\u2014whether it speaks to some strange kind of resilience or a structural inconsistency.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Either way, the Raptors are massive (albeit confusing) overachievers<\/a>, currently in fourth place, and only one victory away from tying last year\u2019s 30-win total. This is an endearing, flawed, unpredictable team that has had its opening-night starting five for just 12 games all season Somewhat remarkably, they\u2019ve exceeded expectations, boasting the league\u2019s fifth-best defense, ranking first in fast-break points, and trailing only OKC in turnover differential<\/a> At the same time, their offense is about average, only two teams have enjoyed a luckier schedule health-wise<\/a>, and their outside shooting is a big problem; they rank near the bottom of the league in both 3-point percentage and rate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nothing they do offensively is a harbinger of postseason success, and none of it should be dismissed. Yet Toronto is one of this season\u2019s biggest success stories, with a sensibly rabid style of play, an abundance of talent, a smart coach, and a bunch of intriguing options before next week\u2019s trade deadline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For those who believe the Eastern Conference is up for grabs\u2014a.k.a. anyone who has been following the Eastern Conference this season\u2014it\u2019s time to ask whether the Raptors can actually steal it. It\u2019s a tricky question, prompted by a Rorschach test r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that can inspire either optimism or alarm. But, without a primary bucket getter who can single-handedly create looks for himself in high-leverage situations, history says the answer is no.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram are their two leading scorers. Neither ranks in the top 30 in points per game, neither is inside the top 25 in usage rate<\/a>, and neither is suited to consistently take over playoff games, separating Toronto from rival playoff teams that employ Jaylen Brown, Cade Cunningham, Tyrese Maxey, Donovan Mitchell, and Jalen Brunson. Instead, as awesome as they are, these are low-volume, below-average 3-point shooters who don\u2019t draw a ton of fouls or get to the rim at will.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, the Lakers\u2019 Future, and More Things We Are Keeping an Eye On<\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, the Lakers\u2019 Future, and More Things We Are Keeping an Eye On<\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, the Lakers\u2019 Future, and More<\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, and the Lakers<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, the Lakers\u2019 Future, and More Things We Are Keeping an Eye On<\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, the Lakers\u2019 Future, and More Things We Are Keeping an Eye On<\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, the Lakers\u2019 Future, and More<\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, and the Lakers<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, the Lakers\u2019 Future, and More Things We Are Keeping an Eye On<\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, the Lakers\u2019 Future, and More Things We Are Keeping an Eye On<\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, the Lakers\u2019 Future, and More<\/p>\n

Deadline Moves, Flagg vs. Kon, and the Lakers<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

This is all fair criticism and, for some, might end any debate over Toronto\u2019s ability to win three playoff series. I\u2019m not saying that\u2019s probable, but I also think it\u2019s too reductive to rule them out, knowing they\u2019ve bought into such a selfless brand of basketbal that has the potential to make their whole greater than the sum of its parts. Barnes is a uniquely skilled control tower whose game makes more sense when paired with someone exactly like Ingram, who takes and makes tough shots. According to BBall Index, only four players have seen their true usage drop more from last year than Scottie\u2019s has this season. The result has been a more efficient campaign by someone who, sans the weight of regularly having to create shots for himself, is also making smarter decisions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ingram, for his part, is pretty much right in line with his career shooting splits and per-game production. The midrange is still his happy place\u2014necessary for a Raptors team that\u2019s desperate for difficult, one-on-one shotmaking. As has been a theme since the beginning of time, Ingram could stand to launch a few more 3s, though. The shot diet isn\u2019t detrimental, but it does help explain why his true shooting is currently 1.4 percentage points below league average<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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When supported by a healthy RJ Barrett, reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Wee Immanuel Quickley, and a turnover-triggering defense that gets them out in the open floor, the Raptors can score at a rate that keeps their head above water. In 360 minutes<\/a> with Barnes, Ingram, Barrett, and Quickley on the court, Toronto\u2019s offensive rating is 1.9 points above league average.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t sound like the makeup of a dominant team that can reach the NBA Finals, but there are other parts of Toronto\u2019s identity that rationalize a bullish view on what they can do in the playoffs. Namely: defense. The only team in the East that\u2019s better on that end is the top-seeded Detroit Pistons, and no team allows fewer points per 100 possessions<\/a> in crunch time, where the Raptors hold the third-highest winning percentage<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to have ups and downs, and what we\u2019re trying to do is always to find a way to be in the game in the fourth quarter and really to focus on our execution and to focus defensively on what we\u2019re doing,\u201d Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic recently said<\/a>. \u201cObviously, we don\u2019t go in a game and have the same game plan over the whole game. We\u2019re trying to make adjustments.\u201d<\/p>\n

That ability to get stops, especially with the game on the line, is powered by a swarm of long arms and quick feet\u2014intuitive, physical, jumpy in all the best ways. The absence of any weak link on defense has become a borderline prerequisite for postseason success. When the offense doesn\u2019t have anyone obvious to pick on, its attack is more likely to procrastinate. When the offense has no one obvious to pick on and is getting suffocated by full-court pressure, the quality of its looks, naturally, goes down. (The Raptors lead the league in defensive pace<\/a>, which essentially means they\u2019re the best at forcing offenses to work deep into the shot clock.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a whole, the Raptors\u2019 positioning away from the ball is intentional and aggressive. They shrink the floor, spring double-teams, and shift together on a string. In the event Toronto does get caught in a mismatch and has to put two on the ball, the backside help is always there to rotate over and cover the open man:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Offenses are coerced into contingency plans that weren\u2019t ever meant to actually happen, largely thanks to a bunch of qualities found in most championship-level defenses: trust, anticipation, length, and versatility. There are no cracks, let alone holes; they\u2019re better than every team outside of Oklahoma at slicing off transition opportunities<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So much of this is thanks to Barnes, a near-flawless defender who can guard every position anywhere on the floor. He\u2019s an elite on-ball stopper, rebounder, help-side rim protector, and disruptive presence in passing lanes. Barnes is one of just a few players in the entire league who can capably execute any pick-and-roll coverage, guarding the ball handler or the screener. His 131 stocks (steals and blocks) lead the league, and he\u2019s the only player who\u2019s even close to having more than 60 in each category<\/a>. It\u2019s been a Draymond Green\/Bam Adebayo level of dominance, a marriage between 1-5 switchability and a Spidey-Sense feel off the ball. To sum it up, Barnes consistently makes breathtaking plays pretty much nobody else can:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barnes isn\u2019t alone. Ingram, Barrett, Quickley, Ja\u2019Kobe Walter, and Ochai Agbaji (to name just a few!) have been able to guard up or down a position while consistently making hard closeouts to the 3-point line. And if you don\u2019t know who Jamal Shead is, do yourself a favor and get familiar. It\u2019s impossible to write about the Raptors and not highlight this catalyzing speed demon off the bench who personifies the entire team\u2019s personality: inefficient scoring, excellent playmaking, inconsistent shooting, and, most importantly, merciless defense. Altogether, the good manages to outweigh the bad. It\u2019s no coincidence that Toronto looks like its most realized self when Shead is on the court\u2014he leads the team in on\/off net differential<\/a>\u2014and not surprising to see Rajakovic start and close games with Shead beside Quickley, deploying \u00fcber-small five-man lineups that don\u2019t actually play that way thanks to Shead\u2019s two-way aggression.<\/p>\n

The unsung heroes don\u2019t end there. If Defensive Rookie of the Year were an award, Collin Murray-Boyles would win in a landslide. He\u2019s a wide body with quick hands and tremendous balance who hustles his absolute ass off. Among all starters, the ninth overall pick ranks in the 95th percentile in defensive role versatility, per BBall Index, and in the 397 minutes when Murray-Boyles is beside Barnes<\/a>, Toronto\u2019s defensive rating is a whopping 10 points better than the league average. That\u2019s not at all surprising when you see how hard it is to run any two-man action against a pair of extremely large human beings who move like cats and never need immediate help:<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-7 rookie became Toronto\u2019s starting center earlier this month, solidifying a perma-small-ball frontcourt that includes Sandro Mamukelashvili and Barnes. This brings us to the team\u2019s largest variable: Jakob Poeltl\u2019s lingering back pain. Toronto (needlessly) signed the 30-year-old big man to a three-year, $84.5 million extension in July, but he\u2019s been out of the lineup since December 21 and remains out indefinitely<\/a>. The injury not only complicates a rotation that could use another stabilizing inside presence, but it also muddies what exactly the Raptors should do before the trade deadline. How aggressive can they be without knowing the status of their starting center?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Raptors have been linked to several big names of late, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ja Morant, and Domantas Sabonis. jAll come with a certain amount of risk and, if I\u2019m being honest, either don\u2019t make a ton of sense or are not worth the cost. Barnes\u2019s limitations as a shooter make pairing him with any of them a tough sell, considering that none of them can shoot, either. Barrett and Quickley often find themselves in trade rumors, but neither is on a plus contract, and there\u2019s enough evidence to suggest that Toronto is pretty good when both are on the court<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s Giannis. If the Raptors believe that they can win the title with him either right now or next season, don\u2019t count them out. They control all their own first-round picks through 2032, and they have matching salaries and a couple of intriguing young players. An example of what a Raptors offer might look like: Ingram, Barrett, Murray-Boyles, four unprotected first-round picks, and three pick swaps for Giannis and Bobby Portis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bucks should be able to find a better package elsewhere, but this isn\u2019t the worst scenario in the world, assuming Milwaukee embraces a full rebuild. Murray-Boyles rules, and there\u2019s a decent enough chance that at least two of those picks will end up in the lottery. If Milwaukee counters by asking for Barnes instead of Ingram, then maybe Toronto would reduce the pick count to three. For what it\u2019s worth, I would not trade Barnes for Giannis, but I can understand the temptation. A Quickley, Gradey Dick, Ingram, Antetokounmpo, and Mamu starting five is not bad!<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t rule Toronto out. We\u2019re talking about the same organization that traded for Kawhi Leonard, knowing that it was a one-year rental. The price then was significantly lower than what it would take to get Giannis now, but if the Raptors are confident in both their ability to re-sign him and dramatically improving their outside shooting elsewhere, why not?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Far more realistic, though, is a much smaller move\u00a0 that\u2019s financially motivated. This team is currently a little over $900,000 above the luxury tax. Ducking it doesn\u2019t take precedence over getting better, but the Raptors will almost definitely seek a smaller deal that kills two birds with one stone. Something simple like Ochai Agbaji for Nick Richards would do the trick, giving Toronto another big man and allowing it to get out of the luxury tax.<\/p>\n

Would they attach something juicy to Agbaji\u2019s expiring contract and call the New Orleans Pelicans about Yves Missi? (I sort of understand why Joe Dumars would shop Missi, but that dude is relentless energy, just 21 years old, and on a cheap deal. He\u2019d be a fantastic fit in Toronto.) Or maybe the Raptors will disregard the tax and make an aggressive win-now move that would seemingly assuage their biggest concerns\u2014say, trading RJ Barrett to the Dallas Mavericks for Klay Thompson and Daniel Gafford\u2014but I wouldn\u2019t bet on it.<\/p>\n

At the top of this column, I wrote that nothing the Raptors do can surprise me. That outlook also applies to whatever happens the rest of this season. I wouldn\u2019t be shocked if they tumbled out of a top-six seed and were eliminated in the first round after barely escaping the play-in. I also wouldn\u2019t blink if they won 50 games, entered the playoffs with home-court advantage, and advanced to the conference finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their lack of shooting makes the former far more likely than the latter\u2014the Indiana Pacers could not have been a Cinderella story last year<\/a> if they didn\u2019t drill every other shot they took for two months. But Toronto is also grounded by an anarchic defensive mindset that doesn\u2019t yield an inch and can match up well with just about any opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In pretty much any other year, I would not write a piece in January about a team that ranks 13th in net rating as a potential Finals spoiler. But you really can\u2019t say enough about how vulnerable the Eastern Conference is right now. It creates a perfect opportunity for these funky Raptors to prove even more people wrong. Anything is possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Pina<\/p>\n

<\/a>Michael Pina is a senior staff writer at The Ringer who covers the NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBANBAToronto\u2019s weird success has it circling big ideas\u2014and bigger namesGetty Images\/Ringer illustrationBy Michael PinaJan. 30, 1:26 pm UTC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-443255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}