With a year under his belt in the pilot’s seat and the runway offered by a new five-year contract in his pocket, Toronto Raptors general manager (and newly minted executive vice president) Bobby Webster could be in for a busy few days as the NBA’s off-season transaction cycle hits peak velocity. 

Some big moves have already come and gone. There was a time when even the notion of Giannis Antetokounmpo being available made the Raptors front office go deep into soul-searching mode, but this time around the two-time MVP departed Milwaukee for Miami without the Raptors ever getting in the mix. 

That doesn’t mean that they weren’t or won’t be in the mix for other players. A couple league sources confirmed that the Raptors were interested in getting involved in talks with the Charlotte Hornets for mercurial point guard LaMelo Ball, a player Webster has always liked, which is one of the reasons he was intrigued by the Hornets' top job before current Charlotte GM Jeff Peterson was hired in 2024.

The gap between Ball being reportedly available and him being traded to Minnesota for power forward Naz Reid on Thursday morning was less than 12 hours, and it’s not clear it was an auction the Raptors could have won. I don’t have any specific insight into what Toronto was offering, but a package around Immanuel Quickley, Gradey Dick and some draft picks seems like a reasonable outline. 

You can see why the Raptors would have had interest: Ball’s ability to push the pace offensively and spread the floor to an extreme degree would both fit the way the Raptors want to play and create more breathing room for a team in need of some offensive punch. 

But there are more big names out there, including Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi........

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