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Toronto Raptors
They can't close games against good teams, can't shoot and don't have enough depth.
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Published Mar 06, 2026 • 4 minute read
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) celebrates his dunk in front of Toronto Raptors forward RJ Barrett.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) celebrates his dunk in front of Toronto Raptors forward RJ Barrett. AP Photo
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We were poised to learn a bit more about the Toronto Raptors this past week and perhaps we did.
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Would they finally rise to the occasion against nemesis New York or even Western Conference semi-contender Minnesota after faring so poorly for so long against the NBA’s better clubs?
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The answer was a resounding no.
Toronto fell to 0-4 against the Knicks, playing a good first quarter and then never leading that game again. Yet again a big, strong and smart opponent had its way with the overmatched Raptors, which would repeat two days later when the team travelled to Minneapolis.
The Knicks shot 57% from the field, scored 10 more points in the paint than the Raptors and collected 15 more rebounds. New York has averaged 50 rebounds in the four victories over Toronto, which is more than Houston’s NBA-leading season average of 48.4 per game.
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They’ve also shot 51%, higher than the 49.9% the Los Angeles Lakers have averaged overall to pace the league.
The bad news for Toronto is a first-round playoff matchup with New York is very much in play and it’s hard to imagine that it would last longer than five games. It might be the worst matchup imaginable for the Raptors, although Detroit also is a terrible one.
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Before Friday’s games, New York was 1.5 games behind Boston — which is getting superstar Jayson Tatum back way ahead of schedule — for second in the East, a game up on Cleveland (the only good team Toronto has excelled against this season, and that was before they added James Harden, a long-time Raptors problem-solver).
A dispiriting 115-107 loss to the Wolves on Thursday sunk the Raptors to 17-22 against teams .500 or above and 4-17 against Top 10 teams. They’ve lost 15-of-16 of the most recent games against those cream-of-the-crop opponents.
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WHAT DO WE KNOW?
So, what do we know about this Raptors team?
They’re good enough to beat the hell out of the NBA’s worst squads and to overwhelm the teams slightly better than that most of the time.
They simply can’t outplay the best the league can offer for four quarters, a bad sign for a club eager to return to the post-season for the first time since 2021-22 and with misses in four of the past five years.
Scottie Barnes is one of the best defensive players in the league and has turned in what overall is his best campaign yet.
Brandon Ingram has exceeded expectations in Year 1 of action with the Raptors, but badly needs help.
They have close to the worst collection of shooters in the NBA. Immanuel Quickley is the only regular who is an above-average three-point shooter, though Ingram probably could be too if he got up more of them (Ingram’s taking 4.8 three-pointers per game after head coach Darko Rajakovic had gone into the season saying he hoped for six or seven attempts from the team’s best pure scorer). Jamison Battle is an elite shooter, but is too limited at everything else it seems to earn Rajakovic’s trust. RJ Barrett is inconsistent, Jakob Poeltl a complete non-threat way from the paint and Barnes has dipped below 30% from three for the third time in his five seasons after a torrid start to the year from behind the arc (he has shot a dismal 16.9% on three-pointers since Jan. 1, the only negative in this superb season).
The offensive limitations bite them the most late in games. Only the NBA’s two worst teams and Phoenix score fewer points per 100 possessions in fourth quarters than the Raptors. The play at close to the slowest pace in those quarters and simply miss more shots than just about anyone else.
The bench isn’t deep enough. The reserves were outscored 26-8 by the Knicks and then 34-25 by Minnesota. Jamal Shead and Sandro Mamukelashvili have both been trending downward as the season has progressed after looking tremendous early on. Collin Murray-Boyles is missed more than any rookie really should be on a playoff team. Ja’Kobe Walter, while talented, lacks consistency as it’s unclear what you’ll get from him offensively on any given night.
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WHAT WE DON’T KNOW
We don’t know what changes are going to be made moving forward, only that alterations have to occur.
More shooting has to be added and the Raptors need to figure out the best way to take advantage of Murray-Boyles’s many gifts. One problem is his best position is power forward (though he has done way more than anyone could have expected as an undersized centre, both when Poeltl has been hurt and also more recently), but that’s also the case with Barnes, the franchise player.
Ingram could shift to shooting guard, Barnes to small forward, but then the starting group would have three well-below-zero-threat outside shooters.
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2. [Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards celebrates his highlight-reel dunk in front of Toronto Raptors forward RJ Barrett on Thursday, March 5, 2026, in Minneapolis.
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And where does that leave Barrett, who only has next year remaining on his contract? You’d swap in a far better defender in Murray-Boyles (and Barrett has looked awful defensively mostly since returning from injury) but lose Barrett’s offensive gifts.
With an expensive roster, a need to re-sign Mamukelashvili and a first-round pick just outside of the lottery on the way, it would be hard to fit Barrett into long-term plans on a new contract, even if he was thriving in his hometown.
But those are questions for a later date. In the present, these Raptors are who they’ve showed us they are and it’s unlikely they’ll be able to change that in the next month or so.
This season is a success either way compared to the previous few, but there’s work to be done.
@WolstatSun
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