The Toronto Raptors are set to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Buckeye State roughly a month into the 2023-24 NBA regular season, with the game taking place on November 26.
At first glance it might look like just another game on a loaded schedule, but this matchup between the Raptors and the Cavaliers actually poses a fascinating glimpse of the future of the NBA.
Why This Game?
The paths taken by the Cavaliers and the Raptors in recent history could end up mirroring one another. The Cavaliers won the 2016 NBA Finals behind a legendary performance from LeBron James. While they threatened to do so again over the next two seasons, they weren’t ever able to repeat their magic, with James leaving town following the 2018 season. The Cavaliers’ management ended up blowing things up that season, and the club won just 60 games combined across the next three seasons. They ended up clawing their way back to respectability in 2021-22, barely missing out on a playoff spot at 44-38 after a pair of losses in the play-in tournament.
This past season, the Cavaliers’ rebuilt young core announced their presence in a big way, as the team played to the fourth best record in the Eastern Conference. While they got bounced from the playoffs unceremoniously in the first round, this young team gained valuable experience, and there’s hope surrounding the Cavaliers again, something that felt notably absent during the years in the wilderness after King James left town.
That’s the kind of quick, effective rebuild that the Raptors hope they can take. They won the NBA title in 2019, making the playoffs as one of the better teams in the East during two of the next three seasons.
While they seemed respectable last season, playing to a 41-41 record, it seems like they’re ready to blow things up and start the rebuild now. Almost all of their entrenched veteran starters like Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet have left town, and it sounds like Raptors Team President Masai Ujiri isn’t interested in flirting with respectability. With new head coach Darko Rajaković in town, a man who specializes in developing young talent on rebuilding teams, Ujiri seems intent on shipping one-time franchise cornerstone Pascal Siakam out of town and beginning the rebuild in earnest.
The talent drain in Toronto ended up being more of a trickle, beginning in 2019 when Kawhi Leonard left town following their championship and culminating this year with VanVleet (and perhaps Siakam), but this puts the Raptors roughly where Cleveland was after James left town. It’s going to be a rough time for basketball fans north of the border as Ujiri rebuilds the team with young talent, and the path that the Cavaliers have taken to rebound from the loss of one of the greatest players who ever lived is nothing short of admirable. Ujiri has shown his talent as a front office executive in turning the long-suffering Raptors into champions, but he’ll have to make the magic work again, much like the Cavaliers front office duo of Koby Altman and Mike Gansey did over the past half-decade.
If the Raptors are back in the playoffs as a legitimate threat by the 2026-27 season, the same timeline that the Cavaliers took, it’ll be nothing short of remarkable. Let’s see if the two franchises can end up mirroring one another.
With those comparisons in mind, the Cavaliers are locked and loaded for an epic showdown when the Raptors come to town. Feel like getting in on the action? Hook up with Tipico Sportsbook Ohio to stand by your favorite team in style. Here’s a look at how the two teams match up this season.
Right now the Cavaliers have roughly +2500 odds of winning it all this season, while the Raptors are in the bottom half of the league at roughly +12500. I’d expect the Cavaliers to have an edge in this matchup, especially because they’re playing at home.
Breaking Down the Cavs
After their successful campaign last season, one might’ve expected the Cavaliers to go for broke and bring in a top-tier free agent or two to help their young core succeed. Instead, the Cavaliers did the opposite, “trusting the process’ in the words of Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid as they largely stood pat.
They acquired a couple of sharpshooting free agents to help their struggles from beyond the arc, but beyond that it seems like they’re inclined to trust the players they have now, waiting as they continue to grow and succeed. There could come a day when the Cavaliers have a bunch of players with contracts set to expire and they need to make desperate moves to win now, but right now they have time on their side, and they seem content to wait things out and see where players like Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen can take them.
Breaking Down the Raptors
The Raptors had a quiet offseason as well, albeit in a much different way. If the Cavaliers seemed to be playing their cards close to their chest, watching and waiting for the right moment to strike, the Raptors offseason went out with a whimper. They let VanVleet walk, and while fans are excited about the pickup of 6-foot-8 wing Gradey Dick through the draft, most of the moves the Raptors made were pretty lowkey.
They signed a number of undrafted free agents, kicking the tires on the bargain bin in the hopes of finding a diamond in the rough, and they brought in a couple of trustworthy veterans in the form of Garrett Temple and Dennis Schröder. Temple is older now, and will likely be confined to a mentorship role as he sets an example for his younger teammates, while Schröder is an interesting option who’s bounced between starting and serving as the sixth man depending on the strengths of the teams he’s played on in the past.
He’s played for Rajaković before, serving as a key option for the Oklahoma City Thunder on one of those aforementioned young teams that Rajaković helped develop, so it’ll be cool to see him fill in a similar role several years later, especially because they’ve made it clear that Schröder will serve as one of the leaders of the team, a sort of glue guy to help bring the best out of the Raptors’ young players.
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