After trading a future first-round draft choice to acquire Jakob Poeltl from the San Antonio Spurs, the Toronto Raptors were widely expected to keep the Austrian big man in town long-term. When he performed better than most expected, it seemed like a virtual certainty he would return long-term.
While Poeltl was unable to get the Raptors into the playoffs, and many rightfully criticized Masai Ujiri for buying at a time when they could have capitalized on some of their incumbent players, he did make their defense borderline elite when he was on the floor and fixed one of their biggest issues.