After a rocky start to the 2022-23 season, the Toronto Raptors have turned things around as of late. The team has won eight out of its last ten games and is now only 1.5 games back of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
To gear up for a playoff push, the Raptors recently made some roster moves to help shore up the team's wing depth. On Tuesday, the Raptors picked up wing Will Barton off the buyout market, per a tweet from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. To make room for Barton, Toronto released Juancho Hernangomez, who appeared in 42 games with the Raptors in 2022-23 and started ten of them.
Barton, 32, has played for three different teams across his 11 years in the NBA. He averaged 7.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game across 40 appearances with the Washington Wizards this season (zero starts).
The former University of Memphis standout is shooting the ball very accurately from behind the three-point arc in the 2022-23 campaign, at least by his standards — Barton's current 38.0% three-point percentage is the second-highest of his pro career, worse than only his 2020-21 season percentage.
It's incredible how much a team's season can change in a matter of a few weeks in the NBA. It wasn't long ago when folks said that the Raptors should blow up their core and tank. Fast forward to now, and the Raptors are in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, and the addition of Barton will only help the squad, which desperately needs additional shooting and shot-creating.