The NBA trade deadline loosed the petty child in all of the NBA — perhaps for good reason — and the Toronto Raptors were no exception.
ESPN has the scoop about the situation with the Raptors, which has been a bit off since the trade deadline began looming:
The vibes out of Toronto over the last six weeks have been just a little off. The relationship between Kyle Lowry and Masai Ujiri is clearly not hunky-dory. It never has been. Lowry misses DeMar DeRozan. I'm not sure any of that bleeds onto the floor. Lowry will play his game when it matters. But back injuries and Leonard's load management have short-circuited Toronto's chances to build chemistry. Marc Gasol is an undeniable upgrade, but he further unsettles their rotation.
The Raptors did make a big splash by acquiring Marc Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies, stealing him away from the Charlotte Hornets after it looked like the big man was heading to Buzz City. Toronto managed to get Gasol without sacrificing a first-round pick, too, so that's certainly a positive.
There are questions about how Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will work out his rotation. Serge Ibaka and Pascal Siakam have been the starters in the frontcourt, so one of them will have to go to the bench to make room for Gasol in the starting lineup. Nurse will surely experiment with lineups down the stretch of the season to see what works best.
Regardless of which way all the dust ultimately settles, it's clear to see that Toronto is all in this season.