Raptors stand pat at deadline after adding Poeltl
Published
The Toronto Raptors brought back a familiar name in Jakob Poeltl early Thursday, but otherwise stood pat at the NBA trade deadline.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski commented shortly after the 3:00 p.m. ET deadline that “the Raptors never turned out to be sellers.”
Wojnarowski added that Raptors president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster tested the market and learned the value of several players and will now have to make some hard decisions in the off-season.
Ujiri expanded on this thinking in a news conference Thursday afternoon.
"Everything we could have done today maybe we can do in the summer," he said of his decision to keep the team in place.
He also offered his assessment of what's gone wrong for the Raps this season after reaching the playoffs a year ago.
“We went too individual. The ups and downs of a season, young players trying to come together, success that came very fast. The expectations maybe we jumped it a bit," Ujiri said.
Guards Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr., who both can become unrestricted free agents this summer, remain Raptors, at least for now. Though Ujiri said he would be open to bringing back pieces he elected not to ship out at Thursday's deadline.
So does forward O.G. Anunoby, who is in the second year of a four-year, $ 72 million deal and had been mentioned in trade speculation leading up to the deadline.
"We're always focused on trying to retain our players... We'll see how we perform the rest of the season and make that assessment," he said.
Raptors forward Pascal Siakam said earlier this week he was not concerning himself with trade rumours.
“I’m at a point in my career where it really doesn’t matter unless I feel like there’s something going on,” said Siakam. “I’ve seen people go. I’ve seen people get here. So, nothing surprises me. I don’t look for anything until my phone actually rings.”
Early Thursday morning, the Raptors acquired Poeltl from the Antonio Spurs for Khem Birch, a protected 2024 first-round pick and second-round picks in 2023 and 2025.
"I think it's something we've lacked on this team [a big] ... I haven't done my part, maybe, for this team to maybe play a little bit better," Ujiri said of acquiring Poeltl.
Poeltl was drafted ninth overall by the Raptors in 2016 and spent two seasons with the club before being traded to the Spurs along with DeMar DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green prior to the 2018-19 season.
The Raptors went 4-3 on a recent road trip and defeated the Spurs on Thursday night for their third straight win.
At 26-30, the Raptors are currently 10th in the Eastern Conference and hold the final play-in spot.