Grizzlies do Raptors a Huge Favor In Reverse Standings

The Toronto Raptors have now overtaken the Memphis Grizzlies for the sixth worst record in the NBA

The Toronto Raptors now have a lead.

This wasn’t how anyone would have hoped for this season to go, but nine straight losses seem to be helping the Raptors these days. The team has now fallen into the bottom six in the NBA’s standings, a half-game below the Memphis Grizzlies for the sixth-worst record in the NBA.

It was a Grizzlies victory over the San Antonio Spurs late Friday night that gave Toronto sole possession of the spot after the two teams had gone back and forth over the past week or so.

If the standings remain this way, Toronto will have a 46% chance to keep its top-six protected first-round pick owed to the Spurs. Those odds fall to 32% if the Raptors finish the season as the seventh-worst team in the league.

Toronto does have a slightly easier schedule over the final 12 games with four games scheduled against the Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets. That said, the Raptors find themselves as +5.5-point underdogs on the road against the Wizards on Saturday night.

Memphis will play just three more games against the league’s worst teams, two against Detroit and one more against San Antonio.

The Raptors sit four games back of the Portland Trail Blazers for the fifth-worst record in the NBA. It’s a margin Toronto isn’t likely to close with less than a month to go in the season.

Toronto has a three-game lead on the Brooklyn Nets who currently sit eighth in the reverse standings with a 26.3% chance to move into the top four.