Toronto needs to slip within the top six of this year’s draft to keep their pick.
The Washington Wizards are hosting the Toronto Raptors Saturday night. At 12-58, the Wizards have already been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. The 23-46 Raptors, though still technically alive, are seven games back of the 10th seed and thus are functionally also eliminated.
The stories of the Wizards of late and the post-championship Raptors are quite similar. Both teams held on to good-but-not-great talent for far too long (Bradley Beal, Kristaps Porzingis, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam), resulting in playoff disappointment and mid-to-late lottery picks. The Raptors were lucky and smart enough to draft recent All-Star Scottie Barnes in 2021, while the Wizards grabbed a keeper in Bilal Coulibaly this past draft. Unfortunately, neither player will play on Saturday.
The Raptors enter the matchup off the back of an 8-game losing streak; they are strongly incentivized to tank away the remainder of the season because San Antonio controls their top-six protected lottery pick. The Wizards, meanwhile, are coming off an impressive win versus the mostly-healthy Sacramento Kings, proving to doubters (present company included) that they still have some fight left in them this season.
Raptors at Wizards tips off at 8 p.m EST Saturday night at Capital One Arena.