Charlotte Hornets 138, Toronto Raptors 133

It’s tanking time.

Nobody wanted to do that this early in the season. The hope was that Toronto could see Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett grow together this year as this young core developed for the future. But now that Barnes is sidelined for the foreseeable future due to a fractured orbital bone, the writing is on the wall.

The good news is that this year’s draft class is loaded with talent, from presumptive No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg to Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey and many other highly touted prospects. With any luck, Toronto should have a pretty good chance of signing one of these top players and beginning their climb to the playoffs next year with Barnes and another top prospect leading the way.

But for now, it will probably be quite difficult.

Toronto faces a ton of tough teams to start the season and it’s hard to imagine the Raptors coming away with many wins against those teams. Wednesday’s loss could be important late in the season, however, as Charlotte is expected to be in the mix again as one of the worst teams in the league competing for these lottery odds this summer.

It’s the RJ Barrett show now.

With Barnes out and Quickley still dealing with his pelvis injury, the Raptors are counting on Barrett to step up and fill the void left by Toronto’s top two offensive engines. At times it seemed a little awkward early Wednesday night. Barrett struggles to create buckets from a standstill, but when he’s going downhill, he’s hard to stop.

He found Jakob Poeltl for an alley-oop on a pick-and-roll in the first quarter and found Jonathan Mogbo cutting in with a nifty pass for two in the second. It was part of an eight-assist effort from Barrett, one shy of his career high.

Barrett finished the night with 31 points on 10-of-18 shooting. He hit a pair of big threes in the fourth, cutting Charlotte’s lead to just five in the final two minutes. He had 17 points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough.

Five missed free throws from Barrett and 10 misses at the Raptors charity event burned Toronto, which couldn’t really make up the difference, with Charlotte converting its free throws throughout the sequence.

Raptors coach Darko Rajaković went out of his way earlier this week to mention Gradey Dick’s shot selection. It hasn’t been horrible, but there were times early in the season where Dick was a little too aggressive against tough defenses.

“Gradey is the type of player he needs to find his moments,” Rajaković said after Toronto’s loss to Denver on Monday. “There will be games and nights where teams will be so focused on him, and he might have three points in the first half. He has to stay patient and he has to make good decisions.”

Against the Hornets, Dick responded.

The second-year sharpshooter looked terrific, helping Toronto climb out of a 23-point hole in the first half with a flurry of jumpers in the second quarter. It was the kind of display the Raptors hope to see more of from Dick as he develops into a more complete offensive weapon in the future. He hit mid-range jumpers with ease, snaking around off-ball screens to get his shot off and entering the paint to complete contact.

He banked in a mid-range jumper midway through the fourth quarter to set a new career high with his 26th point of the night, finishing the game with 30 points on 11-of-17 shooting.

Dick’s role will grow in these games with Barnes and Quickley sidelined and if Wednesday’s game is any indication of what’s to come, it will be a good development opportunity for the 20-year-old shooting guard.

To some extent, reversals were to be expected.

This is a young team, still acclimating to each other, and the losses of Barnes and Quickley have left the Raptors short on reliable ball handlers. But it was a little worse than expected.

Toronto led the league in turnovers per game on Wednesday night and that’s what defeated the Raptors against the Hornets. Seven turnovers in the first quarter for Toronto turned into easy slices for Charlotte who took a double-digit lead in a flash. When the Raptors rallied, it was another series of turnover problems late in the third that cost Toronto the lead. Four turnovers in the final three minutes of the quarter put Charlotte on a 12-0 run, regaining the lead early in the fourth.