Upcoming matchup between the Wizards and Raptors important for seeding

The Washington Wizards find themselves in the middle of the standings in the Eastern Conference once again. This time joined by the Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat. With a third of their remaining games (7 out of 21) being against these teams, each one of them should be huge games. It was clear in their last game that the Wizards are aware of this as they played with renewed energy against the Hawks.

Their next matchup of these teams is against the Raptors on March second. A matchup that will undoubtable be decided by a battle in the post. Featuring Kristaps Porzingis, Deni Avdija, Daniel Gafford, and Kyle Kuzma on the Wizards and Pascal Siakam, Jakob Poeltl, Chris Boucher, and OG Anunoby on the Raptors.

This game will be crucial for the Washington Wizards and their playoff hopes.

This game could propel the Wizards up to the nine seed with a real possibility of being clear in the eight seed after Friday night’s games as the Hawks are facing the Portland Trailblazers in the middle of an insane hot streak by Damian Lillard.

If both the Hawks and the Heat lose on Friday and the Wizards win against the Raptors, the Wiz would only be one game removed from the seven seed. All this while the Brooklyn Nets are in a complete free fall at the six seed and still going down.

If the Wizards lose this matchup, they would be half a game up against the Bulls who play the Phoenix Suns on Friday with the potential to tie them in the standings.

If it isn’t clear that this game is incredibly important, how about I add the fact that the Wizards future trade potential lies in them making the playoffs as they aren’t able to trade their picks for years until they pass one to the Knicks. All of them, of course, are lottery protected as well. This makes it a difficult situation for the Wiz if they lose as it would make rising up in the standings all the more difficult.

This is one of the most pivotal games of the season for the Washington Wizards as it could be the deciding game on whether or not they are the eight seed with double elimination in the play-in or the nine seed with single elimination, or even making the postseason at all. The Wizards need to win this game.