The trade deadline is February 5th. It is a day when grown men in suits move other grown men in shorts from one city to another, often against their will. We are all waiting to see what the Raptors do, or if they just stare at the phone until the ringer stops.
I saw a person online asking about Ochai Agbaji. They used an emoji of a crying face, which feels about right for January in Ontario. Ochai plays basketball with a certain level of commitment that reminds me of my uncle trying to fix a leaky faucet, he is doing his best, but the floor is still wet.
The Digital Version of Us
Someone posted the All-Time Raptors roster from NBA 2K26. It is interesting to see digital versions of people who used to work here. Most of them are taller in the game, and their skin has a strange, plastic glow that suggests they have never experienced a humid afternoon in Scarborough.
The digital players do not get tired, which is a nice fantasy. In real life, everyone is tired. The actual Raptors are playing the Magic tonight in Orlando, a city built on a swamp where people wear oversized mouse ears and pretend they are not sweating.
Transactional Daydreaming
There is a hypothetical trade floating around involving Jordan Poole. The idea is that we would take him on to get Trey Murphy III and Yves Missi without giving up first round picks. Jordan Poole playing in Toronto would be an experience, like buying a microwave that occasionally decides to scream instead of heating your soup.
Trey Murphy is a player everyone seems to like, which is rare. Usually, we find reasons to be suspicious of people who are good at shooting. If the front office can convince New Orleans to part with him, it would be a feat of magic greater than anything happening at Disney World tonight.
Looking Toward the 5th
What will actually happen on February 5th? Probably something small. A second round pick from 2029 for a guy whose name sounds like a brand of high-end bottled water. We will talk about his wingspan for three days and then forget he exists when the ground starts to thaw.
The deadline is a weird time of year. It is mostly just nervous people refreshing their phones while they are supposed to be working. I hope Ochai finds what he is looking for, whether it is a jump shot or just a really good sandwich. We are all just looking for something to get us through the winter.