76ers Rival Raptors Add Will Barton After Buyout With Wizards

The Toronto Raptors are making moves in the free agency market.

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Raptors are finalizing a deal to acquire the free agent veteran guard Will Barton.

After a seven-year stint with the Denver Nuggets, Barton landed with the Washington Wizards for the 2022-2023 NBA season.

This year, Barton came off the bench for 40 games in Washington. After the Wizards failed to move on from Barton in the trade market, the veteran reached a contract buyout last week.

In order to make room for Barton, the Raptors are waiving the veteran center Juacho Hernangomez, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

As the Raptors struggled throughout the first stretch of the season, many wondered whether they would become sellers at the trade deadline or not. Coming off of a first-round exit in the playoffs last season against the Philadelphia 76ers, the Raptors haven’t really looked improved this season.

Currently, Toronto sits 30-32, placing them ninth in the Eastern Conference standings. While it seemed Toronto could become sellers at the trade deadline, they kept their core pieces and made moves to help set them up for a late playoff push. Adding Barton is just another sign that the Raptors hope to make a postseason run.

Another Sixers Target Off the Board?

In past seasons, Barton was linked to the Sixers as a potential trade target when he was a member of the Nuggets. Clearly, those rumors never came to life.

While there was speculation that the Sixers could consider bringing on Barton this season ahead of their eventual playoff run, sources mentioned that Philadelphia did not have any interest in acquiring the 32-year-old veteran last week not long after he became available.

Once again, Barton will become a direct competitor of the 76ers as he’s back in the Atlantic Division. With 29 games of postseason under his belt, the Raptors hope that Barton will bring some much-needed help to increase their playoff odds with under 30 games left in the year.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.