Should the Toronto Raptors acquire another disgruntled superstar?
The Raptors check off that box. Sitting with a 37-15 record and tied with the Milwaukee Bucks for first place in the Eastern Conference, Toronto sits in prime position to contend for a title this season and should make a full-on push to get AD before the Feb. 7th trade deadline. Luckily for Raptors fans, the team is expected to make an offer for Davis, according to Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer.
Why the Raptors should attempt to trade for Anthony Davis
As shown by their record, the Raptors certainly have the talent to win the Eastern Conference, but they may not have enough to win an NBA title.
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The Raptors already have an All-Star and MVP candidate in Kawhi Leonard and while Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam are in the mix to make it into the All-Star Game as reserves, the Raptors lack that second surefire superstar that's propelled the Golden State Warriors and Clevland Cavaliers to titles in recent years. Adding Davis, who is an MVP candidate this season and has made the All-NBA First Team in three of the last four seasons, would give Toronto that second player like Kevin Durant was for the Warriors and what Kyrie Irving was for the Cavaliers.
To add to that, the Boston Celtics are reportedly interested in the superstar. Between their young players (Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown) and a plethora of draft picks, they can make an offer that would be tough for New Orleans to turn down. However, they can't trade for Davis until the off-season due to the Rose Rule, which allows teams to only have one player under contract who signed an extension to make 30 percent of their team's salary cap before they finished their rookie deal. With Kyrie Irving taking up that slot, they have to either wait for his contract to expire this off-season or trade him to get Davis, which is unlikely to happen.
If the Raptors make an attempt and succeed to trade for Davis before the trade deadline, they would block one of their top rivals for the Eastern Conference title from ever getting him.
Is Kawhi Leonard in line to win Eastern Conference Player of the Month?
— Sporting News Canada (@sportingnewsca) January 28, 2019
He's averaging 31.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.
He scored 33 points and had 10 rebounds to lift the #Raptors over the #Mavs on Sunday.pic.twitter.com/Esryh37VSX
The clock is also ticking on the time Toronto has left to impress Leonard. The Raptors have done a fine job up to this point by getting the best out of him and owning a share of the best record in the league this season. But they also have to prove to him they can win in the future, too. Lowry turns 33 in March and while Siakam is still up-and-coming, Davis brings a guarantee as one of the league's top players and won't turn 30 until 2023.
Who and what could the Raptors trade for Davis?
To begin, the Raptors and Pelicans are above the luxury tax threshold, meaning that both teams can't take in more than 125 percent of salary than they are giving away.
With Davis making more than $25 million this season, the Raptors would have to give up a big contract in this trade. The candidates for this are Lowry (who is making $31 million this season), Leonard (who is making $23 million this season), Serge Ibaka (who is making $21 million this season) and Jonas Valanciunas (who is making $16 million this season).
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The whole point of this trade is to get that second high-caliber player next to Leonard. So, we can cross off his name for this potential scenario.
We can probably cross off Lowry for now as well. It'd be tough to trade the leader of the team mid-season and while Fred VanVleet is good, he isn't on the All-Star level that Lowry is at. However, if New Orleans is looking to unload point guard Jrue Holiday (who is making $25 million this season and has three more seasons left on his contract after this season), that is something that the Raptors should look into. Holiday, 28, is four years younger than Lowry and is scoring a career-high 21.2 points per game this season, putting his name in the conversation to make the All-Star Game. While he isn't the facilitator that Lowry has evolved into, Holiday is one of the league's top defensive guards and made the NBA All-Defensive First Team last season.
But sticking with the original idea of trading for just Davis, moving Ibaka instead of Valanciunas in this scenario would be easier. Ibaka's contract makes it easier salary wise for the Raptors to match contracts and he has more value than Valanciunas. Ibaka is averaging a career-high 16.1 points per game this season and while he may not bring much value to a team that is rebuilding, his contract does expire in 2020, making him a trade chip for either a contending team or a team that is looking to add cap space for that summer.
Now the Raptors have to look into their bag of assets to complete this trade. Luckily for them, not much left the bag when the team traded for Leonard. Because DeMar DeRozan was in the trade, Toronto only had to add Jakob Poeltl and a 2019 protected first-round pick.
That leaves the Raptors with VanVleet, Siakam and OG Anunoby as the potential young players they can trade.
If any trade were to happen with the Pelicans for Davis, you'd have to assume they would want Siakam. The third-year forward is averaging 15.2 points and seven rebounds per game this season and is a contender to make the All-Star Game as a reserve. While trading a young player like Siakam is always a tough pill to swallow, he's only one year younger than Davis.
A trade of just Ibaka and Siakam for Davis would work salary wise. But with how much Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers can offer between young players and picks, the Raptors would have to add a bit more to sweeten the deal.
With the depth Toronto has around the perimeter and VanVleet's recent contract extension, Anunoby becomes the more expendable player. The 2017 first-round draft pick also brings an unknown but desired potential with his athleticism and touted defensive skills that the Pelicans would ideally look for if they want to rebuild.
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Toronto may still have to add a draft pick, but similar to the deal that got them Leonard and Danny Green, they can put protections on a first-round pick. Because they traded their 2019 first-round pick to the Spurs and a rule that prevents NBA teams from trading consecutive first-round picks, the earliest draft pick they can offer is their 2021 first-round pick. With Leonard's and Davis' contracts set to expire prior to then, it's realistic that the Raptors would ask for a pick protection similar to the pick they gave to San Antonio, which is a Top 20 protected pick.
If Leonard and Davis stay in Toronto, it's likely they would still be one of the top teams in the league and they would be surrendering a pick at the end of the first round.
With the aforementioned proposal, that would leave the Raptors with a likely starting lineup with Lowry and Green as the guards, Leonard and Davis at the forward spots and Valanciunas at center.
The deal to bring Leonard signaled that the Raptors are all in on winning this season. Making a deal for Davis not only solidifies that but it also strengthens their chances of building towards a title in the future.