Title: How Raptors’ salary-cap picture looks after trade-deadline overhaul
Date: February 8, 2024
Original Source: Sportsnet
Synopsis: In my latest at Sportsnet, I broke down how the Raptors’ cap sheet and summer outlook look following the trade deadline.
TORONTO — A lot changes in a year. And a lot doesn’t.
I started this annual column off in 2023 with the line “patience isn’t free.” After the Toronto Raptors opted not to be sellers — even buying — at last year’s trade deadline, I warned that, while I could see the logic, there is an eventual cost to rolling flexibility into the future. Players get older or get closer to free agency, the value of players and contracts change, and the NBA landscape shifts. In the year that’s followed, the Raptors have overhauled a lot. Three of the four players they chose not to move last deadline are gone, with Fred VanVleet leaving for nothing in free agency, Pascal Siakam being dealt for less (arguably, and in my estimation) than he would have if traded earlier, OG Anunoby being traded for a very solid return, and Gary Trent Jr. still sticking around.
Over the course of four trades in the past seven weeks, the Raptors have sent out eight players, dramatically overhauling what the roster looks like now and moving forward.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 