Raptors' Poeltl trade looking like a clear error, one year out
A year ago this week, the Toronto Raptors made a franchise-altering trade.
On February 9, 2023, the Raptors acquired centre Jakob Poeltl from the San Antonio Spurs, in a move that wasn’t exactly the most popular among the fan base at the time.
With Toronto widely expected to be sellers at last year’s trade deadline, they went the opposite route, acquiring Poeltl for a package centred around three draft picks, the most notable of which is a top-six protected first pick in this year’s draft.
While the move made sense from a win-now perspective, it also fed into doubt that perhaps Toronto’s front office was too short-sighted about the future direction of the team.
Everything that has happened with the franchise since then has only fed the narrative that Toronto’s long-term thinking wasn’t exactly kept in mind when making the deal.
Toronto crashed out of the 2023 postseason picture with a play-in loss to the Chicago Bulls, and finished with a final record of 41-42 on the year. If “just below average” defined last year’s Raptors team, it’s been a whole different story this year.
Of the Raptors’ players to have played in the final game last season, just four remain: Poeltl, Scottie Barnes, Gary Trent Jr., and Chris Boucher. Three starters have departed the team in one way or another: Fred VanVleet left in free agency to the Houston Rockets, while Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby were both traded mid-season this year.
Toronto now sits 17-32, 12th place in the Eastern Conference and five full games back from even touching a play-in spot.
The Raptors sit at a 46% chance of keeping the first-round pick they gave up for Poeltl, which would flip to 2025 if they end up in the top six following the NBA Draft Lottery in May.
Poeltl himself has averaged 10.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 38 games this season, playing an average of 26.5 minutes per night. But even if he were having a career season, it wouldn’t really matter all that much: at age 28, he doesn’t quite fit Toronto’s ideal timeline as a now-rebuilding team closer to the bottom of the league than the top.
Poeltl has three years following this season on a $78 million contract signed this past offseason, and is one of just three players Toronto has signed through 2026-27. Hindsight is 20/20, but it seems like a far better use of resources would’ve been to recognize the franchise’s direction well before trading off future draft picks in an attempt to compete last season.
Following the departure of Siakam to the Indiana Pacers last month, Toronto president Masai Ujiri revisited the Poeltl trade while at a press conference.
“I think that team, in my opinion, deserved us to give them more than half a season a chance and that led to me thinking… that one of the pieces missing at the time was a big,” Ujiri said on January 18. “We thought it was good value to get a starting centre for a pick.”
But Ujiri even admitted that there’s still a possibility that he might’ve miscalculated the move, given how things have transpired in the last 12 months.
“Collectively with our front office we decided to give that team a chance,” he said. “Maybe it was me being selfish and maybe it was a mistake on my part, but we went 15-11 after that. And so, I’m not going to sit here and cry over spilled milk or give you guys any excuses. If it was a mistake, it was a mistake. But going forward, for me, that’s good value for us, whether it’s now or sustainable in the future.”
This year’s trade deadline is set for Thursday, February 8 at 3 pm ET. While the Raptors have likely already done their biggest trades of the season, it seems highly possible there’s another move coming at some point over the next few days as Toronto continues to tinker with its roster.
Barnes and the Raptors return to action on Monday night, when they face the New Orleans Pelicans. Tipoff is set for 8 pm ET.
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