There’s no honour among tankers.

The Raptors aren’t being subtle, but to keep pace with the teams around them at the bottom of the standings they can’t afford to be.

The Philadelphia 76ers have finally come to terms with their lost season. They’ve dropped 13 of 15 games, shut down oft-injured former MVP Joel Embiid, and appear highly motivated to keep their first-round pick, which is owed to Oklahoma City if it falls outside of the top six.

The Chicago Bulls, who reacquired their pick at the trade deadline, are barely – and reluctantly – holding onto the final play-in spot. They’ve been especially cautious with injuries to their veteran starters, with three of them missing Tuesday’s game, a 22-point loss to Cleveland.

The Washington Wizards, who start three rookies, are on pace for 16 wins. The Brooklyn Nets have lost five games in a row. The Charlotte Hornets have dropped eight straight and 17 of their past 19. And that’s just the East.

This is the time of year when the teams that are serious about tanking get really serious. It can be a shameless – and at times shameful – endeavour, but with a draft system that incentivizes losing, and in a sport where one special player can drastically alter an organization’s fortunes, it’s hard to blame anybody for partaking.

We see it every season, and it’s especially blatant when the upcoming rookie class features a consensus top pick and possible superstar in the making, like this one does in Cooper Flagg.

For clubs stuck in purgatory, ones that aren’t likely to attract that calibre of player in free agency, it makes logical sense to do everything they can to improve their lottery odds and chase salvation in the draft, awkward as that pursuit may be.

This week, Toronto officially entered the race. It was inevitable, and has been trending in this direction for a while.

This was always supposed to be a rebuilding campaign, even before a barrage of early-season injuries set them back. They traded away three veteran role players at the deadline, and despite acquiring Brandon Ingram, they’ve insisted that the short-term plan hasn’t changed.

A big part of that plan was to secure a top pick in this top-heavy 2025 draft before pushing forward next season. And so, it hasn’t been a surprise to see Jakob Poeltl on an unspecified minutes restriction since his return from hip injury, or the young guys getting more meaningful run post all-star break.

But in Tuesday’s game against the Magic, they took it a few steps further. Poeltl checked out with eight minutes remaining, fairly standard........

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