‘We had a tricky time’: Raptors’ sloppy fourth quarter results in collapse
TORONTO — The enterprise {of professional} basketball is a bizarre one at the most effective of instances, however it reaches its nadir of weirdness round this time of the season.
By Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, everybody will know who they’re taking part in with and for what staff. Till then, it looks like something is feasible, even when it’s actually not, given the strictures of the NBA wage cap, amongst different issues.
However trades are rumoured, prospects contemplated, and generally they even occur.
Because the Toronto Raptors confirmed up for his or her recreation Wednesday night time towards the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves, their buddy and former teammate Ochai Agbaji was lacking. He was well-liked, hard-working and at instances regarded like he is likely to be a promising piece within the Raptors’ efforts to develop into a aggressive basketball staff once more.
However he was traded as many of the Raptors have been waking up from their pre-game naps.
By the point most of them might have tucked in for the night time, the Raptors had accomplished one other deal, this time buying Trayce Jackson-Davis from the Golden State Warriors for a 2026 second-round choose. The third-year centre provides the Raptors some low-cost depth with ongoing uncertainty round Jakob Poeltl’s again damage. Jackson-Davis is within the third 12 months of a four-year contract value $7.6 million, with the ultimate 12 months a staff possibility.
It could be a stretch to attach Agbaji’s commerce with any of the weather that led to Toronto giving up a 10-point fourth-quarter lead and being steamrolled down the stretch by Timberwolves famous person Anthony Edwards, who had 13 of his 30 factors, 5 of his eight rebounds and all three of his steals in an electrical seven-minute burst that led to Minnesota’s 128-126 win.
And it’s unlikely that the addition of Jackson-Davis will transfer the needle considerably sooner or later, however he would have given Toronto yet one more possibility towards the likes of Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert Wednesday night time, or towering Jazz centre Jusef Nurkic on Sunday.
Dimension or lack of it wasn’t the difficulty towards Minnesota. The Raptors have been glorious by the primary three quarters and horrible within the fourth. Agbaji has been on the fringes of the rotation all season, so arduous to say he would have been a distinction maker.
You would lament that had he developed because the Raptors have been hoping, as an athletic, six-foot-five wing, they might have had a proper-sized stopper to throw in Edwards’s path when he bought rolling. Possibly that may have mattered. Possibly not. Edwards in full battle is simply that good.
“He’s a tremendous participant,” mentioned Raptors ahead Brandon Ingram, who scored 25 factors on 12-of-22 capturing, with 4 assists. “How we guarded him in the entire recreation was one thing that we type of wanted in that fourth … he made the sport a bit of bit more durable for us.”
The Raptors made it a bit of more durable on themselves, too. The T-Wolves’ comeback began when Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic uncharacteristically had Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram — the Raptors’ two offensive hubs — off the ground on the similar time for simply over two minutes early within the fourth, a stretch Minnesota received by simply three factors, however which appeared to provide them some momentum.
Rajakovic’s rationalization was that he was making an attempt to protect Barnes’ minutes as a result of he had performed an extended stint within the first quarter when rookie Collin Murray-Boyles (13 factors, 4 rebounds, three assists and two steals) picked up two fast fouls. Barnes performed 37 minutes for the sport; Ingram performed 35. Toronto hosts Chicago on the second night time of a back-to-back on Thursday, so maybe that was in Rajakovic’s thoughts additionally. T-Wolves head coach Chris Finch had Edwards on the ground for 38 minutes and Jaden McDaniels for 40.
However the Raptors’ largest drawback was that they turned the ball over 5 instances within the fourth and shot simply 8-of-20 from the ground and 2-of-8 from three. It was in sharp distinction to the primary 36 minutes when the Raptors scored 104 factors and shot 56.6 per cent from the ground and 13-of-25 from deep and turned it over simply 4 instances.
It’s the third time in 4 video games — their win over lowly Utah on Sunday the exception — that the Raptors have blown a good lead with a messy quarter of basketball within the second half.
“We had a tricky time within the fourth, we bought a bit of sloppy with the ball,” mentioned Sandro Mamukelashvili, who completed with 14 factors on 10 pictures in 31 minutes off the bench. “That’s the principle factor. When you have got a lead, you management the sport. We prefer to play quick, however similar time (we will) gradual it down and perceive when to go and what not.”
The loss dropped the Raptors’ file to 30-22 and dropped them to sixth place within the tightly packed Jap Convention playoff standings. The T-Wolves improved to 32-20 and fifth within the West.
For the Raptors, it’s unlikely any vital assist shall be out there by the point the deadline passes on Thursday.
There was hope that Agbaji was simply that when he was acquired for the value — successfully — of the 29th choose within the 2024 draft in a commerce with Utah, which additionally netted them Kelly Olynyk.
As a Raptor, Agbaji excelled in transition, was a satisfactory defender keen to tackle robust defensive assignments and shot 39.9 per cent from three final season, which appeared to bode effectively for a (then) 24-year-old along with his athletic profile.
However that was final 12 months. This 12 months, Agbaji was a fourth-year participant in want of a contract extension in a tricky battle for minutes amongst a crowded Raptors wing rotation on the second unit. And whereas none of Ja’Kobe Walter, Gradey Dick or Jamison Battle has precisely stolen the function, Agbaji capturing simply 18 per cent from deep and never having any contractual commitments past this season all the time made him the most probably participant to get traded.
In the long run, he was dealt to the Brooklyn Nets together with the Raptors’ 2032 second-round choose and an undisclosed amount of money. It was a three-team deal through which the Raptors bought Chris Paul and the Clippers bought the rights to Nets prospect Vanja Marinkovic.
The deal helps the Raptors get underneath the posh tax, the Clippers open up a roster spot and avoid wasting tax cash, and the Nets receives a commission for taking Agbaji into their cap house.
And whereas Toronto getting 20-year veteran and Corridor-of-Fame-bound Paul appears cool, the truth is the legendary level guard, who had cut up with the Clippers early this season, will presumably be traded or, extra possible, waived so he can signal with one other staff as a free agent and have an opportunity to complete what shall be his final season with some dignity. Or not.
From the Raptors’ viewpoint, the flowery little bit of salary-cap administration meant that Agbaji was now not a part of their staff, his locker already cleared out by the point they bought to Scotiabank Enviornment for work.
In any other case, enterprise as common, in case you’re within the basketball enterprise.
“It was undoubtedly robust,” mentioned Gradey Dick (six factors and 4 rebounds in 13 minutes), who adopted Agbaji to the College of Kansas (actually: Dick inherited Agbaji’s dorm room) and educated with him steadily at their shared alma mater the previous two summers. “He’s like a brother to me; our households love one another. It’s simply loopy how fast it might probably go: at some point right here, gone the subsequent. But it surely simply exhibits you the truth of the league.”
Raptors accomplished? Early this week, a Raptors insider predicted that the deadline would come and go together with one deal accomplished: a transfer to get underneath the posh tax. With that full, it’s honest to marvel if they will get one other deal executed – some measurement and capturing can be good, or at the very least one of many two. The issue is that Agbaji’s $6.4 million expiring deal was one of many few commerce chips the Raptors needed to put right into a commerce with out carving out gamers from a rotation that doesn’t run all that deep as it’s. The deal for Jackson-Davis might be the top of the Raptors strikes, aside from waiving Paul. The soon-to-be 25-year-old out of Indiana has averaged 15.7 factors, 11 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.9 blocks per 36 minutes for his profession, however noticed his minutes shrink this season with the Warriors’ acquisition of Al Horford. He’s not a ground spacer – 98 per cent of his pictures have come inside 10 toes – however his expertise within the Warriors system might make him a good desk setter and screener for Raptors ballhandlers. The transfer retains the Raptors underneath the posh tax threshold, as effectively.
Giannis to Minnesota? Talking with these near the state of affairs with the Timberwolves, one of many groups reportedly pushing arduous to amass Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks famous person, there appeared to be some skepticism about whether or not the Bucks are even going to commerce their franchise icon mid-season or just await summer season. It’s a probably unsettling state of affairs for Minnesota, given essential items of their long-established core — Jaden McDaniels, Naz Ried, or Julius Randle amongst them — would possible must be included in an Antetokounmpo commerce to make the funds work. It’s not a simple factor to have hanging over your head. “It’s arduous,” mentioned Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch. “The size of some offers, you simply can’t get away from, so (as a coach) you simply must have a variety of empathy for the gamers.”
Possibly don’t shoot so effectively? The loss to the Timberwolves was the Raptors’ 10th recreation this season through which they made at the very least 15 threes, and their file in these video games is now 4-6. The Raptors are 6-4 within the 10 video games the place they’ve made eight threes or fewer. For the season, the Raptors common 11.5 made threes per recreation (24th within the NBA) and shoot 34.3 per cent from deep (twenty fifth).
