Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Toronto Raptors

So far this NBA season, things have not been easy for the Toronto Raptors and they have struggled on both ends of the court. They do not look as dominant defensively as they have in past years, and a large part of their lack of success has to be because of the losses of both Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka.

With Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam at the center of things, this organization has the pieces to be a championship contender, but they need to fix things in their frontcourt immediately. Bringing in Andre Drummond would definitely change the dynamic of this Raptors franchise, as they never really played through their center, but he would be the All-Star level talent they need.

The Raptors currently rank 28th in rebounding and 14th in points per game. These two categories are way down from last year’s averages for the Raptors, which is why bringing in a guy like Drummond makes a lot of sense.

So far this season, Aron Baynes and Chris Boucher have split time at the center position, but neither guy has found a lot of success. At times, Boucher shows his potential to be a great, young big man next to Siakam, but his production is not translating to wins. 

In a 72-game season, every win and loss counts a little bit more. The Raptors cannot afford to keep losing these “easy” games early on in the season and if they want to have any shot at having a chance at another title, they need to trade for Andre Drummond.

Bringing him in would immediately fix their frontcourt problems and give them one of the best rebounders in the entire NBA. Not only would this help make them a better overall defense team, something they have been known for over the years, but it would give them a legit double-double threat night-in and night-out. 

Not only would this trade help them now in their pursuit of titles, but gives them the option on either investing in Drummond for the foreseeable future, since he is only 27-years old, or using the $28.75M his contract frees up to pursue a max-contract level player in free agency next offseason. 

Making the move for Andre Drummond should immediately change things for the better for the Raptors and finally get them back on track to being one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference, the only question that remains is if Toronto is willing to give up some solid role players in the process.