After the Raptors squared off against a lot of high-level competition with a tough schedule early into the 2024/25 season, they’ve seen their slate during the year’s home stretch get significantly easier — just as they look to stack up losses.
Toronto has been facing other rebuilding teams of late, as they look to cement their bid for the best possible lottery odds in this summer’s draft, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.
The Raptors are slated to play Charlotte and Brooklyn twice, and have one more game against seemingly lottery-bound clubs in Philadelphia, San Antonio, Portland, Chicago and Dallas as the season winds down.
As of this writing, the 25-47 Raptors have the seventh-worst record in the league. They could conceivably overtake the 23-49 Nets and Sixers and maybe even the 20-53 Pelicans if they play their cards “right.”
There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:
Sixers coach Nick Nurse has revealed that injured former MVP center Joel Embiid has finished consulting various specialists about his lingering knee inflammation, and Philadelphia intends to make a choice on next steps “soon-ish,” per Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter link).
Sixers guard Jeff Dowtin is rapidly approach the 50-contest active game limit for two-way players. Per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link), the Rhode Island alum has just two games left before Philadelphia faces a decision on his fate. If the club wants to give the 27-year-old any more run in 2024/25, the Sixers front office will need to ink Dowtin to its standard roster. Through 38 games this year (he has been active but did not play in 10), the 6’3″ guard boasts averages of 6.4 PPG, 1.8 APG, 1.6 RPG and 0.5 SPG in 14.1 minutes per.
Incoming Celtics owner Bill Chisholm has already spoken with Boston All-Star forwards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and team president Brad Stevens ahead of the club’s recent tilt in Sacramento, writes Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (subscriber link). “It’s the most incredible feeling to think that maybe I can just play a tiny little part in the future,” Chisholm said, “and now I’ll just let these guys do what they’re doing, let Brad do his thing. If I can help in any way, that’s amazing to think about.” Stevens himself spoke about the club’s impending new ownership situation, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. “My only thing is just asking to be kept in the loop on everything I need to know from the standpoint of making decisions here and now and moving forward,” Stevens said. *“As we get to spend more time with Bill, with [current team governor Wyc Grousbeck] and Bill, then we’ll have more clarity on how we are going to do things.*