The 2021 NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone, with a historic amount of moves around the association. For the Toronto Raptors, the biggest news was regarding the move they didn’t make, rather than the ones they did.
Toronto sent Matt Thomas to the Utah Jazz for a future second-round pick. They made a similar trade with the Sacramento Kings, dealing Terence Davis for a second-round pick in the upcoming draft. The team’s big move was getting Gary Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood from the Portland Trail Blazers for franchise stalwart Norman Powell.
The 2021 NBA Trade Deadline featured a historic amount of moves. For the Toronto Raptors, the biggest news was regarding the move they didn’t make
But the trade of Kyle Lowry never materialized. There were rumors sending the point guard to the likes of the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat, among others. Toronto didn’t like the offers they were receiving, however, and decided instead to hold on to Lowry for a potential playoff push.
The debate as to whether or not the Raptors should’ve dealt Lowry for virtually anything will likely persist into the offseason. For now, however, all that can be evaluated is who won and lost the trade deadline for the team.
The winners and losers for the Raptors are complicated. Is the franchise a winner because most of their core is still intact and the playoffs are within reach, where anything can happen? Or is the team a loser because they didn’t commit hard enough to a rebuild, which could leave them languishing in the middle of the Eastern Conference for years to come?
These are the winners and losers from the Toronto Raptors’ trade deadline.