NBA: Is The Toronto Raptors’ season over After the Scottie Barnes injury?

There was a ton of optimism surrounding the Toronto Raptors’ future a couple of seasons ago. The Raptors made the playoffs with a 48-34 record and had the Rookie of the Year. Now the Raptors have one of the worst records in the league and their star player is out with no timetable for return. The Raptors look like a sinking ship, and their odds to make the playoffs and play-in tournament reflect that.

Barnes has successful Surgery

The Toronto Raptors now have the second worst odds, among teams that are not currently one of the top eight in the east, to make the NBA Play-In Tournament this season and are huge underdogs to make the playoffs following forward Scottie Barnes’ surgery. The Raptors announced that Barnes had successful surgery to repair a broken middle finger on his left hand, according to NBA.com. Barnes injured his hand during the Raptors’ 120-105 loss to the Golden State Warriors. He has been a contender for the Most Improved Player award all season on NBA betting sites. Barnes is probably out of the running because of the injury.

The Raptors did not announce when Barnes will return to the court. Head coach Darko Rajakovic spoke about how the team plans to move forward without Barnes in the lineup before their game against the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday. “We have a lot of young guys. This is going to be a great opportunity for them to step up. First of all, I expect Quickley and RJ to step up. And our leaders in Kelly Olynyk and Jakob to step up,” Rajakovic said before the game. “Our objective stays the same, to be competitive and try to win every single night.”

Raptors have second worst odds to make the play-in tournament

Unfortunately for the Raptors, Poeltl dislocated his finger during the Hornets game later that day, a 111-106 victory. According to an article by Sportsnet, the date when Poeltl will return is unknown at the moment. The Raptors entered the season with hopes of competing for a playoff spot and potentially surprising some teams in the postseason.

WOLVES BACK ON TOP OF THE WEST

Three of the top four teams in the West were in action on Monday, resulting in another shake up in the standings. Here’s how it went down.

Lakers top Thunder: The Lakers got a combined 50 points from D’Angelo Russell (26 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast, 4 stl,… pic.twitter.com/by4WXHokId

— NBA (@NBA) March 5, 2024

If there was ever a time to bet against the Raptors, it looks like now is the time. At +800, the Raptors currently have the second worst odds in the east to make the play-in tournament on BetRivers. They are only ahead of the 15-46 Charlotte Hornets at +6000. The 9-51 Detroit Pistons and 9-52 Washington Wizards are completely out of the mix, so you can not bet on either team.

Raptors have almost no shot to make the playoffs on the sportsbooks

The Raptors are sitting at 23-38 right now, 12th in the east, and are one spot behind the Brooklyn Nets in the standings. The 26-34 Atlanta Hawks currently have the 10th spot in the east, the final spot in the play-in tournament. The sportsbooks are giving the Raptors a small shot at reaching the play-in tournament, but they are giving Toronto almost no shot to make the playoffs after all of the trades and injuries. The Raptors have -25000 odds to miss the playoffs and +2250 odds to make the playoffs on Bet99.

For context, the Nets, a team with only one more win than the Raptors, currently have -5000 odds to miss the playoffs and +1350 odds to make the postseason. The Raptors still have a shot to make the play-in tournament and playoffs, but their schedule looks tough on paper. The Raptors have 21 games left in the regular season. 14 of those games will be against teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today. If their season continues going the way it has so far, the Raptors will most likely miss the playoffs. But the 10th spot in the east is not out of reach yet.