The Main Takeaways From the Toronto
Raptors' 2023-24 Season

The Toronto Raptors’ season is over. With a 25-57 record, the fifth-worst in franchise history (and the worst since 2010-11), there were good moments sprinkled throughout a disappointing year.  

Looking back on the trials and tribulations from last season several noteworthy moments should be acknowledged to better understand what worked, and what the Raptors need to improve upon.  

In February 2023, the Raptors acquired centre Jakob Poeltl from the San Antonio Spurs for a protected 2024 first-round pick. This ended up being a top-six protected pick, meaning the Raptors needed to be the sixth worst team in the NBA to get the pick back. If the Raptors finished with a higher record, the Spurs gets the Raptors’ 2024 first round pick.

The good news (kind of) is that the Raptors managed to tank for the sixth worst record. The bad news is that a team could trade up in the upcoming draft and suddenly the Spurs have two of the top six picks. 

An argument could be made the Raptors purposely tanked to preserve the first round pick and it is understandable. Overall, the Raptors potentially have three valuable draft picks: a top-six pick in the 2024 draft, the 19^th overall pick (from the Siakam trade) and the 31^st overall pick (from the Malachi Flynn trade). If the Raptors can capitalize on these three selections, the team could go from a bottom-feeder to a play-in team immediately.

The Raptors moved on from three important pieces: 2022-23 All-Defense member OG Annunoby, all-star Fred VanVleet, and two-time All-NBA Pascal Siakam (the team leader in points per game despite being traded on January 18). 

Annunoby was entering this offseason as a free agent, with his reported asking price being a four-year, $118 million extension. The New York Knicks believed they could exceed this amount and needed his defensive perimeter capabilities to help withthe Knicks’ playoff push.

For VanVleet, the Houston Rockets were willing to pay $43 million for the next three years. By that time, Barnes would be off his rookie contract and demanding a big pay raise to stay in Toronto.

Siakam was set to become a free agent and the summer leading into the 2023-24 season, the Raptors declined to offer Siakam a contract extension. Understandable, considering Siakam was eligible to sign a four-year $202.3 million extension, which could turn into a five-year $304 million supermax if he made another All-NBA team for this past season.  

When it comes to basketball, injuries are a part of the game. With up to 40 minutes of rigorous vertical and lateral movement over the span of 82 games, chances are NBA players will have at least one injury throughout the season.

For the Raptors, it wasn’t that one guy’s injury left him unable to play for a couple of weeks. Instead, the problem was the consistent injuries happening to Raptors players, and how many players required end-of-season surgery.   

Raptors’ new point guard Immanuel Quickley was out with leg injuries including hip and adductor. Barrett was listed out multiple times with knee injuries (six in 2024 to be exact). Gary Trent Jr. was listed as out seven times throughout the season with injuries ranging from back to foot to quad. Newly acquired small forward Bruce Brown was out three different times with knee injury… and that’s just over the span of a month.

As mentioned before, the out for the season injuries began with power forward/centre Chris Boucher suffering a right MCL tear on March 2. Then two days later, Barnes fractured a bone in his left hand. Then on March 13, Poeltl tore a ligament on his finger.

The team was so depleted that on January 17, the Raptors called up Raptors 905 guard Javon Freeman-Liberty. A decent performance over 22 games, averaging 7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.5 steals on 44.4 field goal percentage and 23.8 3-point percentage. But to put into perspective how unlucky the Raptors were with injuries, the Oklahoma City Thunder matchup onMarch 21 was played without the team’s entire starting lineup.

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At the end-of-season media availability, Ujiri reinforced the notion that the Raptors are committed to remaining competitive — although the process won’t be an immediate change. Ujiri did mention the possibility of signing a back-up point guard from the free agency window.

Since joining the Raptors in 2013, Ujiri has won 58 per cent of the regular season games, nearly 50 per cent of the playoff games, and helped the Raptors win the 2019 Championship. Although the plan lacks transparency, fans arewilling to give Ujiri the benefit of a doubt.

There is one question that’s up in the air though: What does the future hold for Gary Trent Jr.? As an unrestricted free agent, the shooting guard has yet to sign an extension (at least at the time of this article). Last season saw Trent Jr. receive a guaranteed $18.5 million and it isn’t out of the realm of possibility he demands $20 million a year. There are teams that would want Trent Jr., with improvements in assists, rebounds, and three point percentage.  

But on the other hand, if Trent Jr. and the Raptors do come to an agreement, it makes it harder to extend Quickley, Barrett, and even Bruce Brown. A guess is that Trent Jr.’s value is likely an unprotected third round pick. At 25 years old, the Duke sharpshooter has the potential to be a key role player. Ujiri could keep Trent Jr. or trade expiring contracts in favour of draft capital. Like Ujiri said, we just need to be patient to find out.

On June 30, 2023, the Raptors signed free agent point guard Dennis Schröder to a 2 year/ $26 million deal. A year prior, Schröder played for the Los Angeles Lakers averaging 12.6 points and 4.5 assists. Additionally, Schröder led the German national team to the country’s first World Cup at the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup — winning tournament MVP in the process.

On paper this was an excellent acquisition. However in December, Schröder expressed his disappointment about the team’s lack of chemistry and individual style of play. Eventually, a mutual agreement was decided to part ways and Schröder was to the Brooklyn Nets for a salary dump.  

To make matters worse, this season saw the Raptors sign forward Jontay Porter to a two-way contract. Spending time in the G league, Porter averaged 6.8 points, 10.7 ­­rebounds and 2.7 assists with a 45.6 per cent field goal percentage and a 27.3 three point percentage. Another deal that looked promising, as the 24 year old had the potential to serve as a valuable role player with all the injuries taking place.

In 37 games with the Raptors, Porter averaged 3.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists with a 40.3 field goal percentage and 33.8 three point percentage. However in March, Porter was caught by an organization that monitors gambling markets. He placed a bet on himself (which is illegal), provided a sports better information about his health, and took himself out of the game in order to help fulfill a wager that a bettor had made. As a result of compromising the competitiveness of the NBA, commissioner Adam Silver made an example out of Porter by banning him from the league.

Those last two come off as a Debbie downer. So transitioning to more of an optimistic note, let’s talk about rookie Gradey Dick. The first half was rough, with only 8.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists across 60 games. Perhaps it was from having a hard time transitioning to the fast-paced, pass a lot offense. But the second half is another story, and Dick was solid (no pun intended).

From March 22 until April 14, there were only two games where Dick put up less than 10 points averaging 16.4 points within that time span. As the 16^th overall draft pick in the 2023 NBA draft, Dick was picked to put up similar stats while on Kansas (44.2 percent field goal percentage and 40.3 three point percentage).

With the first year under his belt, Dick could very easily become a starter next year and be a catch-and-shoot guy for the team.

First year head coach Darko Rajakovic had big shoes to fill following the departure of 2020 Coach of the Year Nick Nurse. The expectations were set low for Rajakovic with a projected win-lose stat of 26-56. Even though this year was hard to stomach for many Raptors fans there was a silver lining: The Rajakovic postgame interview rant.  
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After the January 9 Lakers game, Rajakovic passionately called out the referees from a questionable loss 132-131. Knowing full well this would result in a $25,000 fine, Rajakovic won over social media with his rant. Comments online ranged from “I love his energy” to “he is 100% correct” to “I love this guy. I stand with him”. Major American sporting outlets like ESPN, NBA on TNT, and The Rich Eisen Show all commended Rajakovic’s commitment to standing up for his team.  

This outburst put the leader of Canada’s basketball team on a pedestal. When warranted, Rajakovic will defend his players from media scrutiny (when warranted). The ratio of free throws between the two teams was 23-2 in favour of the Lakers. Small forward RJ Barrett was called for an offensive foul, even though it was apparent Lakers’ Anthony Davis flopped to get the call.
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Behaviour like this is crucial for a first year head coach in order to get the locker room to buy into the rebuilding process. It could have been very easy for Rajakovic to give simple pr answers in the postgame interview and avoid any consequences. Instead, Rajakovic stood tall to deliver an energetic speech after a crushing defeat.  

President Masai Ujiri saw leadership qualities in Rajakovic and this rant was a prime example of the level of care shown on a night-in, night-out basis. The best part was near the end of the rant Rajakovic said “Scottie Barnes is going to be an all-star, he’s going to be the face of this league”. Sure enough, a month later and Barnes was named to his first all-star game.

Rajakovic is trying to yell out on the court to get his players engaged.. but even he will tell you the guys lack communication. There’s so much skill on display at the NBA level that man-on-man defense will not work against certain teams (nobody on the Raptors can guard guys like Kyrie Irving or Jayson Tatum).

That’s why the Raptors should try utilizing a 2-3 zone defense. A zone defense forces offenses to take more deep range shots, improving the Raptors’ odds of collecting the second-chance rebounds. Additionally, it pressures offenses to make risky passes across the court, or to the big man inside the paint where there’s a high chance of getting double teamed.

The defensive rating for the Raptors (number of points allowed for every 100 possessions from an opposing team) was the 4^th worst in the league last year. It was worse than the Detroit Pistons, which is saying something because the Pistons were historically bad at 14-68.  

This might not be the ultimate solution — but it could help. Drafting a strong defensive presence like UConn centre Donovan Clingan can establish a more efficient zone defense. Compared to the 2022-23, Clingan improved the following year with more defensive rebounds, more steals, more blocks, and less personal fouls.