Since winning the 2019 NBA title, the Toronto Raptors have toiled in mediocrity and have found themselves in that dangerous middle ground where no NBA team wants to be, as they aren’t good enough to compete and aren’t bad enough to land a franchise-changing talent at the top of the draft.
On the heels of a disappointing 25-57 campaign, the Raptors are looking to shake things up by making a big move to ideally fill the hole that they never filled after losing Kawhi Leonard six years ago.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Sunday that the Raptors are prepared to go big-game hunting this offseason.
“I don’t want to get too far afield from this, but since this has come up, the Raptors are a team that is starting to make noise within the league about looking for a big fish.”
The Toronto Raptors are reportedly looking to land a big-name player on the trade market, per @WindhorstESPN
“I don’t want to get too far afield from this, but since this has come up, the Raptors are a team that is starting to make noise within the league about looking for a… pic.twitter.com/eaae19ADOC
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) June 1, 2025
There is no word yet on if the Raptors have anybody particular in mind, but it’s hard to project a potential target given the Raptors’ current roster construction.
This team is expensive and redundant and doesn’t have much to offer in terms of intriguing trade assets that would entice a team enough to deal a star player.
Gradey Dick could be their best trade asset given his improvement this past season because RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram, Immanuel Quickley, and Scottie Barnes are all signed to big long-term deals.
There have been early reports that this offseason could be a wild one for the NBA, potentially because the free-agent market is bleak and there aren’t many teams with cap space.
Everyone is going to have to get creative in order to improve their rosters, and it will be interesting to see what Masai Ujiri and the Raptors could have up their sleeve.
