Raptors get horrible result at NBA's draft lottery

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The Raptors brought Masai Ujiri to the stage hoping the team’s president would bring them luck at the NBA’s draft lottery in Chicago on Monday night.

Instead, things went horribly wrong with the Raptors dropping two spots, from seventh to ninth, when two teams behind them from Texas, Dallas at 11th and San Antonio right behind Toronto at eighth, moved into the top four.

The Mavericks, the most ridiculed and downtrodden franchise in all of sports since stunningly trading away superstar guard Luka Doncic a few months ago, got the ultimate reprieve. The team can now add Cooper Flagg to Anthony Davis (though Davis does not like playing centre and Flagg is not big enough to do it) or see if Flagg can play small forward with Davis and Dereck Lively, which would perhaps become the NBA’s best front court from Day 1.

Dallas had only 1.8% odds of leaping to first after missing the playoffs — and only because of injuries to Davis and fellow all-star Kyrie Irving.

San Antonio (6.3% odds of moving to second) also got extremely lucky and now can create an enviable logjam at guard. Dylan Harper, the big Rutgers scoring guard, is also considered a can’t-miss star and can join De’Aaron Fox, reigning NBA rookie of the year Stephon Castle and others teaming up with the new face of the NBA, Victor Wembanyama. Or the Spurs can make Godfather packages to Dallas for Flagg, to Milwaukee for Giannis Antetokounmpo or for another megastar.

The Raptors finished four games better than the Spurs or else would have been the team jumping. Instead, Toronto misses out on the first few tiers of talent in this draft crop, including potential cornerstones Flagg and Harper, and will be left to pick from some leftovers who might one day fight for a starting spot instead of youngsters with better chances at making all-star teams.

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It’s worth pointing out that Toronto ended up with DeMar DeRozan with the ninth overall pick in 2009 and Jakob Poeltl there in 2016 and those moves turned out extremely well, eventually getting the team Kawhi Leonard after years of prior success. The team also got future Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady at ninth back in the day, but don’t expect history to repeat itself. Raptors fans can also take solace in the fact Memphis took Toronto native Zach Edey there last year and Deni Avidja, arguably now Portland’s best player, was ninth in 2020.

But rest assured this is a bitter pill for Ujiri, general manager Bobby Webster, who was in the sequestered room as the picks became known an hour earlier, and the rest of the Raptors franchise.

For Dallas, it was the complete opposite. “It’s been a rough year, as you all know,” said Dallas representative and former star Rolando Blackman on the lottery broadcast.

It was also that way for the Philadelphia 76ers. And while this result wasn’t quite a miracle on the heels of a Villanova grad becoming the new Pope, it was pretty close. Philadelphia did a complete 180 once Joel Embiid and Jared McCain got hurt (and went even harder into the tank once Paul George and Tyrese Maxey followed) to try to keep this golden ticket.

Only in their wildest dreams did the Sixers brass believe Flagg would be captured. He wasn’t, but Philadelphia needed to drop no further than one spot to keep its pick (otherwise it would have gone to Oklahoma City), but instead leapt two places and can take dynamic guard V.J. Edgecombe, Rutgers wing Ace Bailey, Duke shooter Kon Knueppel or someone else that’s highly touted after Flagg and Harper surely go.

If Embiid can somehow be load-managed enough to be available when most needed, this team somehow looks like a contender. What a turn of events.

Utah and Washington were the biggest losers, each falling four spots, Utah to fifth, Washington to sixth. Charlotte fell from third to fourth (the likeliest outcome for the Hornets but still a tough beat), New Orleans plummeted from fourth to seventh, Brooklyn from sixth to eighth, Houston from ninth to 10th (via a pick acquired from Phoenix), Portland one spot to 11th. Chicago, Atlanta and San Antonio (with a pick from Atlanta) stayed put to complete the lottery order.

Dallas won for the first time, while San Antonio, perhaps the NBA’s luckiest franchise with prior wins bringing them David Robinson, Tim Duncan, and Wembanyama, now could become a perennial contender again.

Toronto had 19.7% odds of staying at seventh, 34.1% odds of falling one spot and 12.9% chances of what eventually happened (there was also a 1.3% chance of going to 10th.) The Raptors jumped from seventh to fourth in 2021 to end up with Scottie Barnes and from fifth to first in 2006 (Andrea Bargnani) but have most commonly fallen at other lotteries.

With all of the top-rated prospects off the boards, the Raptors could be choosing between the likes of Knueppel (a safe bet to become a good player, but perhaps not a star), Tre Johnson (a bit of a one-trick pony with his shooting or is there more there?), Khaman Malauch (see Bailey), Derik Queen (undeniable talent, but a lot of question marks) or Jeremiah Fears (star upside and a young prospect, but also could become just a scorer off bench) or Kasparas Jakucionis (stock has fallen a bit but has size, shooting touch and some creativity). There’s a small chance Bailey, a player who needs a lot of work, could be there as his stock is said to be plummeting.