We The Rebuild: How we can fix the Toronto Raptors
By Zafir Nagji, Staff Writer
The Toronto Raptors have been stuck in a state of mediocrity in the years following their first NBA Championship in 2019. After Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard left to join the Los Angeles Clippers, the Raptors no longer possessed the star power to compete with the elite teams in their conference.
Yet, their team always had talented players, so they never lost enough games to earn high draft picks.
Still, with some carefully calculated moves, the Canadian basketball club can break out of NBA purgatory and gear up to contend when their star prospect, Scottie Barnes, enters his prime.
The first trade might hurt Raptors fans but is necessary to begin the rebuild: it’s time to let shooting guard, Pascal ‘Spicy P’ Siakam, go.
Through his development under the Raptors and their G-League affiliate, the Raptors 905, Siakam became the second-best player on Toronto’s championship team and was selected to two All-Star teams and two All-NBA teams as a Raptor.
Siakam’s only caveat is that he dominates the ball, averaging four isolation possessions per game last season — which made up 16 per cent of his total offensive possessions. New head coach Darko Rajakovic runs a dynamic passing offense with no one isolating on the ball, which may explain Siakam’s statistical drop-off from last season to the current one.
Toronto could trade Siakam to the Golden State Warriors in a three-team transaction involving the New York Knicks. A trade that would see Golden State move star Klay Thompson to New York, who would give Evan Fournier and RJ Barrett to the Raptors.
The Raptors would also receive the Knicks’ 2024 first-round pick, originally owned by Dallas. This is key as Toronto does not own a pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. The Knicks would also send a 2026 second-round pick to the Raptors. The Warriors’ 2026 first-round pick and second-round pick, the latter of which came via the Atlanta Hawks, would additionally be traded to Toronto.
Thompson has been struggling this season but is exactly the type of big-name player the Knicks have historically traded to acquire, while Siakam can provide a significant scoring punch to the sputtering Warriors offense.
Additionally, Fournier only has one year remaining on his contract after this season, making him extremely easy to trade in the upcoming offseason as a veteran three-point shooter on an expiring deal.
The Canadian-born Barrett also fits Barnes’ timeline as they are both of similar age, and, additionally, still lacks the scoring efficiency or defensive prowess to consistently contribute to winning ways in Toronto immediately, helping them secure lottery picks in the near future.
What might hurt Raptors fans even more will be the next move — giving up OG Anunoby to a conference rival. However, at only 26 years old and already receiving Kawhi Leonard comparisons, the forward could fetch the Raptors a great haul in the trade market.
Anunoby is the wing defender-shooter the Indiana Pacers need to break into the Eastern Conference’s upper echelon. Currently ranked fifth in the conference, the Pacers score the most points per game of any team in the NBA, but their biggest issue is that they also concede the most points.
To solve this issue, the Pacers can trade Buddy Hield — who they were reportedly reluctant to extend anyway and ranks 402nd of 485 active players in defensive rating — along with their 2025 first-round pick, to Toronto. In exchange, the Raptors would give up their three-and-‘D’ specialist in Anunoby and their 2028 first-round pick, which they should hope not to need as Barnes will be entering his prime by then.
Lastly, Toronto needs to sell their older role players for anything they can get in return.
Since Garrett Temple is on a minimum deal as a veteran player, the best course of action would be to either cut his contract short or, if possible, find any other team willing to trade a future, second-round pick to acquire him
The Houston Rockets would be a perfect fit for Otto Porter Jr. as they have a skilled player in Jae’Sean Tate with a similar contract falling out of their newly re-tooled rotation.
The Raptors can sweeten the trade by adding a future second-round pick since the Rockets’ forward is much younger than Porter and good enough to be a rotation player in the Scottie Barnes era. Tate also becomes a cheap expiring contract after this year, making him a potential future trade piece.
Thaddeus Young would fit well in a trade with the Charlotte Hornets as he could be the veteran force needed to help develop their young forwards, Miles Bridges and PJ Washington, and keep them accountable off the court.
In exchange, they would give the Raptors their 2024 second-round pick and James Bouknight, who doesn’t fit in an already-guard-heavy Hornets team and could benefit from spending some time in the Raptors’ transformative player development program.
As the reigning MVP and gold medal of the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Dennis Schroder is a piece that any team in the NBA would love to have. However, because he was signed so recently, the Raptors would have to wait until at least Dec. 15 to move him.
Rather than rush to trade Schroder, the Raptors should give him significant minutes until closer to the February trade deadline to spike his value before dealing him to a contending team in need of an aggressive point guard.
The Raptors can then take their young core of Barnes, Gary Trent Jr., and others through a few years of winning less than 30 games to earn high draft picks. When they draft a superstar player or amass enough trade capital to make a deal for an already-established NBA star, Barnes will be comfortably in his prime and Trent will be well-accustomed to his role as the Raptors’ tertiary, perimeter scorer.
From there, the team can finally start to work their way towards winning their second championship in franchise history.
