76ers Hurt Raptors' Playoff Chances as Late-Season Tank May Be Best Option for Toronto

The Toronto Raptors appear to be locked into the No. 9 seed with the Philadelphia 76ers resting Joel Embiid against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday

Aaron Rose | Apr 7, 2023

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Toronto Raptors

The Philadelphia 76ers may have just Toronto's hopes for playoff basketball this summer.

To be fair, the Toronto Raptors haven't done themselves any favors. They sit at 40-40 with two games to go, needing to win both their final two games and have the Atlanta Hawks lose out to clinch the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. That, however, seems unlikely.

Philadelphia has ruled out Joel Embiid, James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, and P.J. Tucker for Friday's game against the Hawks, making Atlanta heavy favorites to clinch the eighth seed. Should Atlanta somehow lose Friday, the Hawks will have another chance to clinch in the final game of the season against the Boston Celtics team with nothing to play for.

The Raptors can no longer fall lower than ninth, meaning they've virtually locked a home game to open the play-in tournament against the Chicago Bulls. A loss to Chicago would end the season. If Toronto wins beats Chicago, the Raptors will play another must-win game either in Miami or Atlanta for a chance to take on the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs.

It may be in Toronto's best interest to lose its final two games, improving the team's draft lottery chances without impacting the play-in picture. The Raptors could drop as low as 11th in the lottery standings with two losses and some help from the surrounding teams. That would give Toronto a 9.4% chance to land a top-four pick and a 77.6% chance at the No. 11 pick should the Raptors fall short of the playoffs.

The play-in tournament has no bearing on the draft lottery which includes all non-playoff teams ranked in order of regular season record.

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