The Raptors had four players – including starters Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam – cleared from the NBA’s health and safety protocols for Wednesday’s game, allowing their rotation to regain some semblance of normalcy, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. However, VanVleet and Siakam were predictably rusty in their returns, shooting a combined 5-of-24 from the floor in a loss to Detroit.
The loss was Toronto’s sixth straight, dropping the club’s record to 17-23 just one week away from the trade deadline. While the belief is that the Raptors are a better team than their record has shown, the front office will have to make some big decisions at the deadline, so there won’t be much time to assess the roster once it gets back to full strength, Grange notes.
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- The one player who remained out on Wednesday due to the health and safety protocols was OG Anunoby. However, he traveled to Detroit and the hope is that he’ll be cleared to play vs. Utah on Friday, Grange tweets.
- Blake Murphy of The Athletic weighs the pros and cons of trading Norman Powell, who will be eligible for unrestricted free agency at season’s end and is making a strong case for a lucrative new deal, with 19.7 PPG on .500/.446/.875 shooting this season. Multiple teams have inquired on Powell, according to Murphy, who wrote his article before the swingman went off for 43 points on Wednesday, further complicating the equation.
- The NBA has rescheduled a pair of Raptors games, the league announced in a press release. The February 28 game vs. the Bulls that was postponed has been moved to April 8, while an April 9 game vs. Cleveland has been pushed back to April 10.
Was it b/c of rust, or was it b/c of Delon Wright, Jerami Grant, Josh Jackson, Saddiq Bey, and Doumbouya matching up defensively?
it was great game by young detroit.
It was because the Raptors had too many players who shoot to miss on the floor.
OG was still out. Maybe raps will get a top pick if they don’t make the playoffs… I say re up Powell, get Derozen back and trade Baynes, Thomas,2022 pick for either Bamba or Bagley.
I’d like to resign Powell too but for hypotheticals sake what would be the asking price from Norm that you would have to say no?
He will ask for Van Vleet money at the minimum
yeah no. if he wants FVV money, hard pass. unless a sign/trade is involved.
You can’t say pass when superstars don’t stay in Toronto. Derozen was the closest thing to that and he wanted to stay, then Lowry. Raptors have no choice but to keep Powell.