Scottie Barnes gives the Toronto Raptors room to wait. Bobby Webster said the team wants to be opportunistic in the trade market over the summer and into next summer’s deadline, and Barnes’ long-term control is the main reason Toronto does not need to force a move now.
Webster’s trade window
“What we’ve been stockpiling in the last few years, having a lot of assets, having our own picks, having players under rookie-scale contracts, that allowed us to build and be the youngest team in the playoffs,” Webster said Tuesday evening after the Raptors selected Allen Graves in the first round of the NBA Draft. “But yeah, at a certain point, we want to be opportunistic in the trade market. We’ll look to do that over the course of the summer and even to the trade deadline next summer.”
That is the practical map for Toronto: stay ready, keep options open, and avoid locking into the first available deal. The Raptors have enough pieces to wait for the right fit rather than spend their flexibility early, and Webster’s comments set that timeline from this summer through next summer’s deadline.
Scottie Barnes and the Raptors
Barnes is the player who makes that patience possible. He will be 25 heading into next season, and he will be eligible for a contract extension in the 2027 offseason while still being signed for three more years after that point. Toronto is not facing a deadline that would push it into a rushed decision on his future.
Every indication is that Barnes likes being in Toronto, which only strengthens the idea that the Raptors can keep building around him without treating this summer as a forced pivot. He is the most obvious factor driving the approach, and he sits at the center of the roster’s long-term control while the front office looks outward for the right trade.
Toronto’s roster leverage
The rest of the roster gives Webster room to shop carefully. He is the only person described as untradable, while Collin Murray-Boyles is close to untradable but still movable in a virtually inconceivable trade for the absolute perfect fit. That leaves Toronto with a structure that can absorb patience.
The Raptors were the youngest team in the playoffs, and they also used the first round of the NBA Draft to add Allen Graves. With assets, their own picks, and players on rookie-scale contracts, the team has the kind of flexibility that makes waiting a strategy instead of a risk. The open question is still the one that shapes the summer: which specific trade, if any, will Toronto actually make before next summer’s deadline?
