Hanifan's Offseason Outlook: Evaluating the Toronto Raptors' 2024 offseason

Hot Hot Hoops senior writer Matt Hanifan will provide his take on the offseasons of all 30 teams for the next 30 days! Today, we are looking back on the Toronto Raptors offseason!

Previous Offseason Outlooks:

********************************************

Additions: Davion Mitchell (trade), Jared Rhoden, Bruno Fernando

Subtractions: Gary Trent Jr., Jordan Nwora, Jalen McDaniels, Mauhamad Gueye, Javon Freeman-Liberty, Malik Williams

Re-signed: Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Garrett Temple

Draft: Ja’Kobe Walter (No. 19 overall), Jonathan Mogbo (No. 31), Jamal Shead (No. 45), Ulrich Chomche (No. 57)

Hanifan’s Take: The Toronto Raptors hit the reset button last offseason, trading star wings OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam ahead of the February trade deadline. They didn’t completely empty the treasure chest, but it was enough for them to acquire star young point guard Immanuel Quickley, plus R.J. Barrett and Bruce Brown. They bottomed out, losing 19 of their 21 regular season games to finish 25-57. However, the Raptors still weren’t able to net their own draft pick because their top-6 protected pick it sent to San Antonio in the Jakob Poeltl trade conveyed to No. 8. For where they were selecting, I thought Toronto did good work in the draft. They also re-signed Quickley at a good number ($162.5 million), though he will have $12.5 million in unlikely bonuses that Toronto will have to navigate if they add to their cap sheet in the coming seasons. I was more bearish at the Scottie Barnes rookie max extension number–which can raise to 30.0 percent of the cap if he makes any All-NBA team or wins DPOY or MVP this season. Though he’s the Raptors’ franchise player, an exceptional (weakside) defender and is continuing to ascend offensively. It’s a no-brainer for the 23-year-old, even though it’s a steep number (which will look better over time if the cap raises 10 percent). By virtue of extending Quickley and Barnes, the Raptors were unable to bring back Gary Trent Jr. as his desired $25 million–ultimately signing a one-year minimum with the Milwaukee Bucks, who are competing for an NBA Title. I expect Toronto to be busy at the deadline, with the options to offload Poeltl (two years, $39 million), Brown ($23M expiring), Olynyk (two years, $26.3M), Chris Boucher ($10.8M expiring) and Davion Mitchell ($6.5M expiring), among others. There’s still more work to do if Toronto’s going to lean fully into this rebuild around Quickley and Barnes, even though it’s not off to a bad start.