Toronto Raptors Receive: C Jusuf Nurkic, F Robert Covington, G Anfernee Simons, F Greg Brown III, G/F Tony Snell, POR 2025 1st Round Pick (Unprotected)
Portland Trail Blazers Receive: F Pascal Siakam, F/C Chris Boucher
This would certainly be a huge move for the Portland Trail Blazers to make, but there are some things to touch on with this trade before going in depth about what this trade could mean for both teams. The first thing is that the Raptors physically cannot make this trade due to their roster size.
Toronto has one open roster spot right now, so they could take on three contracts for the price of two, but they would be acquiring five players for the cost of two in this deal. Unless they are going to be waiving some guys and eating their contracts or trading two other players on their roster, the Raptors cannot make this deal happen.
The second thing to discuss with this trade is value.
Pascal Siakam is an All-Star-level talent and was an All-NBA performer not too long ago. There are no limitations to his game after his offseason shoulder surgery and if the Raptors are to be moving him, they are not only going to have to receive a handful of talent to help them win games right now, but they are going to need a lot of future value as well.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: This Raptors-Warriors Trade Is Centered Around Pascal Siakam
Trading Siakam would signify that the Raptors are looking to quickly rebuild themselves into a championship contender, so getting two to three impactful players and a few draft picks would be what it would take to land him.
Jusuf Nurkic and Robert Covington are not the best talents in the world, but they are definitely solid factors that can help a playoff contending team in this league. Tony Snell is an underrated wing defender and shot 56.9% from three-point range last year, so he is definitely a key bench talent for any team to have on the perimeter.
Anfernee Simons presents a lot of future value as well to this team, but looking at this trade as a whole, the Raptors would basically be trading away an All-Star player for a bunch of secondary talent. Nurkic, Covington and Snell are all going to be free agents after this season and Simons is going to be a restricted free agent.
Toronto could wind up losing a lot of value in this trade after just one year and with just one first-round pick coming to them from Portland, they do not have a solid foundation to salvage value if Nurkic, Covington and others leave.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: This Raptors-Warriors Trade Is Centered Around Pascal Siakam
Freeing up cap space to find another All-Star to pair with guys like VanVleet, Anunoby and Barnes could be advantageous to this team, but all-in-all, the Raptors will only relinquish Siakam if they can get a ton of value right now, something this trade does not necessarily offer.
