1997–98 Toronto Raptors season

The 1997–98 Toronto Raptors season was the third season for the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association. The Raptors received the ninth overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft, and selected small forward, and high school basketball star Tracy McGrady, and acquired second-year forward John Wallace from the New York Knicks in a three-team trade during the off-season. In November, Isiah Thomas resigned as General Manager, and later took up a job as color analyst for the NBA on NBC.

With the addition of McGrady and Wallace, the Raptors got off to a 1–2 start to the regular season, but then struggled posting a 17-game losing streak afterwards, leading to a dreadful 1–19 start to the season. The team later on improved in January with a 6–8 record, including a four-game winning streak, and later on held an 11–36 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, the team traded Damon Stoudamire along with Walt Williams, and Carlos Rogers to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for Kenny Anderson, Gary Trent and rookie point guard Alvin Williams, as head coach Darrell Walker resigned after 49 games; however, Anderson refused to play for the Raptors, and was then dealt along with Popeye Jones, and Žan Tabak to the Boston Celtics in exchange for rookie point guard, and top draft pick Chauncey Billups and Dee Brown. The team also released Shawn Respert to free agency, where he later on signed as a free agent with the Dallas Mavericks.

Under interim Butch Carter, the Raptors continued to struggle posting a 5–28 record for the remainder of the season, which included a 13-game losing streak between March and April, and losing 16 of their final 17 games. The Raptors finished in last place in the Central Division with a franchise worst record of 16–66; this was also the first, and only season in which the Raptors finished with a worse record than their Canadian rival, the Vancouver Grizzlies, who finished with a 19–63 record.

Doug Christie averaged 16.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.4 steals per game, and led the Raptors with 100 three-point field goals, while Wallace averaged 14.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, and second-year star Marcus Camby provided the team with 12.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and led the league with 3.7 blocks per game. In addition, Trent provided with 12.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game in 13 games after the trade, while Brown contributed 12.2 points, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game in 31 games, and Billups averaged 11.3 points and 3.3 assists per game in 31 games, but only shot .349 in field-goal percentage. Meanwhile, Reggie Slater contributed 8.0 points and 3.9 rebounds per game, while McGrady provided with 7.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game off the bench, and Oliver Miller averaged 6.3 points and rebounds per game each.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, McGrady was selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the Eastern Conference Rookie team; before the mid-season trade, Billups also participated in the Rookie Game as a member of the Eastern Conference, while playing for the Celtics. Wallace finished tied in eighth place in Most Improved Player voting.

The Raptors finished 16th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 674,685 at the SkyDome during the regular season; this was also their final full season playing at the SkyDome. Following the season, Camby was traded to the New York Knicks, while Billups was traded to the Denver Nuggets, Trent signed as a free agent with the Dallas Mavericks, Miller was released to free agency, and Sharone Wright, who only played just seven games this season due to an off-season car accident, retired after four seasons in the NBA.