The Toronto Raptors are the team to watch at the NBA trade deadline, the swing team of the deadline. Sitting at 23-30, Toronto is 12th in the Eastern Conference and likely out of the hunt for the playoffs, even if they sneak into the Play-In Tournament. This leaves Toronto in a position to be sellers, in a market that has a lot of buyers and few sellers. With Gary Trent Jr. and Fred VanVleet set to hit free agency on June 30th and OG Anunoby soon behind them, Toronto should look to trade some players and reset.
Pascal Siakam would be the shock of the deadline if he were to be moved. If Toronto were ever going to trade him, it would be in the offseason because that package could look like the Donovan Mitchell one. However, I do not think that Toronto will even think for a second about trading Siakam nor do I think they should think about moving Siakam. That should be off of the table. Scottie Barnes is also not on the table, but we knew that when they were reluctant to put him in a Kevin Durant trade. However, everyone else should be on the table. This team is bad and needs to make trades before Thursday’s deadline.
Let’s start with Gary Trent Jr. Acquired at the 2021 deadline for Norman Powell, a deal I loved for Toronto at the time and still love it, Trent has been awesome for the Raptors but can opt-out of his contract and is expected to do so. As a result, a trade is possible and there are a lot of teams that could line up to acquire Trent. At just 24 years old, Trent is an attractive option for teams that would like to acquire his bird rights, including Toronto who could simply elect to keep him, and re-sign him as a free agent. His contract is not too high either, $17 million and averaging 18.2 points per game on shooting splits .44/.37/.84. The Knicks are a good option, especially if Toronto is looking for picks. If the Raptors were ever willing to take on Evan Fournier’s contract they could possibly walk away with the Knicks 2023 picks and the Mavericks 2023 pick, both with protections. They could get a haul of picks from Miami to take Duncan Robinson’s contract as well and the protections on those picks would be very light, maybe even unprotected. There are other teams who would be interested too, Dallas, Phoenix, Memphis, and New Orleans are all teams I could see getting involved in the Gary Trent Jr. sweepstakes.
Fred VanVleet is another player whose name will be popular as the week progresses. The 28-year-old guard is having a down season, averaging 19.5 points and 6.6 assists while shooting 40% from the field and 34% from three. However, VanVleet is a known playoff performer. He scored 14.0 points per game but shot 44% from the field and 40% from three in the 2019 Finals as the Raptors beat the Warriors to win the title. There are plenty of teams who will be in on VanVleet but the Suns and Clippers are the teams I would pay most attention to. The Clipper need and connection is obvious, as they desperately need a guard and have the salaries to match in a trade. They also have Kawhi Leonard on the team, who was teammates with VanVleet in Toronto as the Raptors won that championship in 2019. Toronto would want Terrence Mann and the Clippers 2028 pick (which would likely be protected) in any deal along with the players to match salaries in any deal. Would the Clippers do that, I am not so sure. The Suns are interesting. Chris Paul is 37 years old and is on the decline, which has been evident in his play this season, as he has had 4 games in which he has played over 25 minutes and only made 1 field goal in the game. He is near the end and Phoenix knows it, so expressing interest in VanVleet is not too much of a surprise. A 3 team trade could be possible, where VanVleet comes in and Paul and other stuff goes out seems semi-realistic. The Clippers could be a team who is interested in that so they could possibly add a guard and keep Mann.
OG Anunoby is the last player I want to discuss and a player that could bring Toronto back a lot. An elite defensive player, Anunoby is most known for that side of the court but he is also averaging 16.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game on shooting splits of .46/.36/.82, those are very good numbers. There are a bunch of teams that are going to be interested, the New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix Suns, and Sacramento Kings are all teams to keep an eye on but the team I want to focus on is the Memphis Grizzlies. Memphis is starting to slide a little bit, losing 6 of 7 and definitely should make a trade ahead of Thursday’s deadline. Anunoby is the ideal fit in Memphis and they should make sure they acquire him. A package that I have come up with is Anunoby for Danny Green, Zhaire Williams, the worse of the Grizzlies and Warriors pick in 2024, 2025 Grizzlies unprotected pick, 2026 Grizzlies swap, and 2027 Grizzlies unprotected pick. Toronto walks away with a haul of picks and a talented young player in Williams and while it would definitely hurt Zach Kleiman and the Grizzlies front office to trade Williams and all these picks, they are really good and a move to acquire Anunoby could better position themselves to make a deep run in the west playoffs.
The Toronto Raptors had a good season last year and they (and I) expected them to follow that up with another good season this season. However, that has not been the case and the season has gone down the toilet and they should make trades before these players can hit free agency,
Kyrie asks out reaction:
I can’t do this anymore. Enough of this guy. He wants a new deal and I agree with the Nets for not giving it to him, I’d like to see him just play basketball for a year before giving him $200 million and he has not proven he can do that since signing with the Nets. The Lakers are possible but I don’t think the Nets want anything to do with Russell Westbrook so I am not sold on that one but it is certainly possible, especially if they can find a 3rd team. The Mavericks would be really fun. Christian Wood and Tim Hardaway Jr. works money wise and could work for both teams as it gives the Nets more shooting and another big to spell Nic Claxton. The Clippers need a point guard but I think they’ll go in a different direction, which I cannot blame them for because that headache is not worth it. While I do not think Irving gets traded, if he were to be dealt, I think he lands with the Phoenix Suns. As we discussed Chris Paul is getting old and the Suns window so sending Paul and Jae Crowder for Kyrie works money wise and it allows the Nets to keep competing this season. That is my guess and though none of us know how this will end, it is always a soap opera in Brooklyn.
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