3 players on the Toronto Raptors roster who won't last the entire 2023-24 season
The Toronto Raptors have been stuck in mediocrity for the last three seasons but they do have a lot of players that could help put a contender over the top.
After winning the championship in 2019, the Raptors had the second-best record in the NBA in 2020; in 2021 the Raptors finished with a 27-45 record; in 2022 the Raptors finished with a 48-34 record, and last season finished with an even 41-41 record.
In the offseason, they lost All-Star point guard Fred VanVleet and replaced him with Dennis Schroder. They seem focused on competing but they're clearly a tier below the best teams in the East and that should get more obvious as the season goes on. As this team progressively gets worse, they still have a lot of good players who can give value to a contending team. Here are three players on the Raptors that won't last the entire 2023-24 season.
Raptors who won't last the whole season: 3. Pascal Siakam
Pascal Siakam has been the best player on the Raptors for the last four seasons. In that time he has averaged 22.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.1 steals with 47/33/78 shooting splits while making two All-Stars teams and two All-NBA teams.
Just this past season Siakam averaged a career-high 24.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and a career-high 5.8 assists, with 48/32/77 shooting splits, a league-high 37.4 minutes per game, and was selected to the All-Star team.
Siakam is joining a group of so many All-Stars and All-Star caliber players who are on mediocre or bad teams. They're in trade talks year in and year out with some of them being traded and some of them not.
This season the Raptors could finally move on from Pascal Siakam, especially with both sides struggling to agree on an extension. They are entering this season with arguably their worst roster in the last decade and are expected to be at best a .500 team.
If that's the case, it would be in their best interest to trade Siakam to a team that can give them some value. This would allow them to go in a rebuilding direction, let Scottie Barnes rise as the guy for this team and Siakam gets to go to a contending team.
Siakam can bring some serious value to a contending team so they will be calling to see if he's available. The reason he is at number three on this list is because Siakam has expressed interest in signing a contract extension so the only way he's traded is if Raptors management decides that it's best that he's gone.