Sean Woodley here, the host of the daily Locked On Raptors podcast, with your daily Locked On Raptors newsletter. Each day we bring you the biggest stories about the Raptors and the NBA, including the hottest links to other stories you need to read. Plus, Josh Lloyd delivers daily fantasy notes to crush your league.
Toxic Positivity Friday! Let’s leave Raptors-related dread in 2024.
Jan 1, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (4) dunks for a basket against the Brooklyn Nets in the second half at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images | Dan Hamilton/Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
There’s certainly a place for dread in sports. In fact, it’s the through-line of like 90% of the experience of following a team. Each year begins with hope, yes, but beneath that, an understanding that the world is cruel, only one team wins, and you’re probably gonna wind up some degree of sad. Watching sports is the Eating Arby’s of hobbies.
I wrote a couple months back in this very newsletter about how this season was supposed sit in the rare, delicate pocket where low expectations and entertaining basketball converge to create the Bliss Zone, where the wins are fun, losses boost the future and sparse are the reasons for depression. For a while, even with a hellish run of injuries, the Raptors upheld that promise.
And then December happened, and everyone kinda lost their minds for a hot second. Losing streaks make folks question everything, even if the reasons for them are pretty explainable, as they were in the case of the Raptors’ near 0-for month. This certainly doesn’t apply to the whole fanbase, but I interact with enough Raptors sicko factions to pretty confidently say Raptors-related despair was as ratcheted up as any point in the last few years during the hell week the team spent getting destroyed by a bunch of bona fide contenders and also the Atlanta Hawks.
As much as it’s kinda corny and arbitrary to mark fresh starts and new beginnings with a simple flip of the calendar from one month to another, it doesn’t feel like such a reach in the case of these Toronto Raptors. You can safely store the last month in some inaccessible corner of your mind palace and let yourself believe again going into the new year.
Day one of 2025 brought tangible change to the complexion of the team. Immanuel Quickley’s back, meaning the expressed goal of this season — figuring out what the hell this team’s got — has begun in earnest. RJ Barrett, presumably, will return from illness sometime soon, restoring the core that hasn’t suited up together since Dune: Part Two hit theatres. The low-stakes, high-entertainment promise of October can finally be fulfilled, as long as the basketball gods chill out on the injury front for a bit.
My advice: enjoy this. Yeah, there will be some important info gathering in the year ahead, and not all of it’s gonna be rosy. Decisions will be made, players will assert their place in the long-term plans or they won’t, and the fallout moves may upset you depending on your allegiances. But in the grand scheme, this next stretch of Raptors basketball is a time to let go and take it all in, knowing another high pick and a long runway for most or all of the team’s young pieces lie ahead.
There will be a time to fret. It comes along in every team’s growth cycle right around the time winning becomes the priority; contractual drama saps some of the fun, too. We’re a ways from either of those things in these parts, though. And as much as wallowing is integral to doing sports fandom right, so is having fun on the ride up from the ground floor.
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Today on the podcast Katie Heindl joined me for the first Toxic Positivity Friday of 2025, where it didn’t really feel all that toxic now that Immanuel Quickley’s back. Enjoy the show, and have a great weekend!
Jan 2, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) warms-up before the game against the Indiana Pacers at Kaseya Center. | Jim Rassol/Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
After weeks of downplay by his agent and denials by Heat president Pat Riley, Jimmy Butler has finally said the quiet part out loud to a room of postgame media about his future in Miami.
“What do I want to see happen? I want to see me get my joy back from playing basketball, wherever that may be — we’ll find out here pretty soon — but I want to get my joy back. I’m happy here, off the court, but I want to be back to somewhere dominant. I want to hoop and I want to help this team win. Right now, I’m not doing that,” Butler said.
In a quick follow up, Butler was asked whether he thought he could get his joy back with the Heat.
“Probably not,” he said without any hesitation.
As a Butler in Miami believer, my surprise stems from the state of the team. That the front office has let the Heat’s roster slowly erode to the strange place of competitive limbo they find themselves in. Losing key role players, like Max Strus and Caleb Martin, plus offensive gap fillers like Gabe Vincent, has left the Heat without much depth. The undeniable talent of Butler, Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro — who is having one of his best seasons, despite it all — and sophomore Jamie Jaquez Jr. is there, and for years Duncan Robinson has worked to be whatever the team needs him to be, but the scrappy longevity and the plucky punches this team was capable of pulling two and three seasons ago are gone.
Katie Heindl is a credentialed NBA and WNBA writer, her bylines have appeared with The New York Times Magazine, SLAM, The Athletic, Yahoo Sports, Dime, Rolling Stone, among others. She writes the bestselling Substack, Basketball Feelings and is working on a book of the same name.
Home and Away
Injury RJ Barrett is listed as questionable against the Orlando Magic, raising concerns about his availability. Barrett’s status will be closely monitored. RJ Barrett could impact the game significantly. (Sports Illustrated)
Honor No Toronto Raptors players were included in the initial All-Star Game votes, highlighting a surprising snub for the team. All-Star votes reflect the current standings. (Sports Illustrated)
Honor Giannis, Nikola Jokic, and Jayson Tatum lead the first round of All-Star voting, with no Toronto Raptors making the list. The results are a challenge for the Raptors. All-Star voting sees familiar names at the top. (Bleacher Report)
Honor Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards calls Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the “MVP of the NBA.”(ESPN)
Injury Pistons Jaden Ivey undergoes surgery to repair his broken fibula, and his earliest timeline for return is four weeks. (SportsNet)
Watch Charles Barkley calls out JJ Redick over NBA ratings comments, “dead man walking.” (Awful Announcing)
Fantasy Cheat Sheet
Jimmy Butler’s Trade Request Shakes Up Miami Heat & Fantasy Basketball
Jan 2, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) looks on from the bench during the second half at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol/Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
I’ve been hearing whispers about potential issues between Butler and the Heat organization for months now. Sources close to the situation indicated that the Heat were hesitant to offer Butler a contract extension, which reportedly left him feeling undervalued and frustrated.
Butler’s recent press conference comments, where he stated he may never regain his joy for playing basketball while with the Heat, seem to confirm these tensions. His on-court performance has also noticeably dipped, with Butler appearing disengaged and putting up subpar numbers.
From a fantasy perspective, Butler’s potential departure raises questions about who might step up in his absence. However, looking at games where Butler has been out this season, no clear beneficiary has emerged. Players like Jaime Jaquez Jr., Tyler Herro, and Duncan Robinson have failed to consistently produce starter-level fantasy numbers in Butler’s absence.
Click the button below to get the inside scoop on a rookie center’s breakout game.
Don’t let these episodes pass you by — stay locked in with the latest Locked On Raptors podcasts.
Thursday — Immanuel Quickey returns, Raptors snap their 11-game losing streak Sean goes solo to gush about Immanuel Quickley bringing point guard play back to the Raptors, Scottie Barnes unleashed as a power forward, the healthy Raptors rotation & more!
Tuesday — Raptors Year-End Superlatives! Sean is joined by Vivek Jacob to talk about a rough calendar year of 2024 for the Raptors, their biggest takeaways from what was a year of transformation and roster revamping, their favourite and least favourite things, biggest surprises, disappointments and more!
Monday — Raptors get spanked by Hawks for 10th-straight loss Sean goes solo after the Raptors took a beating at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, talked about the psychology of losing 10-straight and ran through The Good, Bad & Hmm from a game that is hopefully as bad as it gets for the team this year.