The Nets have already made one big move ahead of the trade deadline, but they might not be done.
Before the Kyrie Irving trade was made official on Monday, there were talks of the Nets looking to expand the deal to include a third team. It sounds like the Raptors were involved.
Not only did NBA insider Marc Stein report that the Nets had "explored the feasibility" of packaging Spencer Dinwiddie and draft capital for Fred VanVleet, but he also tweeted that Brooklyn has been described as a team with interest in Pascal Siakam.
HoopsHype's Michael Scotto expanded on those trade rumors, reporting that Toronto "covets" Nic Claxton and Brooklyn has discussed Ben Simmons and several first-round draft picks in discussions with the Raptors.
Is there a potential deal that would make sense for both sides? Let's take a look.
MORE: Latest Raptors rumors, news, updates ahead of trade deadline
Why Raptors say yes and no: Pascal Siakam trade to Nets for Ben Simmons, Nic Claxton, draft picks
The trade: Pascal Siakam and Thaddeus Young for Ben Simmons, Nic Claxton and two first-round picks.
Why is Thaddeus Young involved? Siakam and Simmons are each making $35.4 million this season, so the Raptors would have to include someone else to match Claxton's salary of $8.5 million.
Why Raptors say yes: If the plan is to build around Scottie Barnes, this helps the Raptors get younger. Not that Pascal Siakam, 28, is old, but he has two years on Simmons, 26, and five years on Claxton, 23.
Simmons is a three-time All-Star who has proven to be a nightly triple-double threat and one of the best defenders in the NBA. Claxton is having a breakout season with averages of 13.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game. He has a real shot at making an All-Defensive team and should be in the Defensive Player of the Year discussion.
All of that is to say: Barnes, Simmons and Claxton would make for a pretty terrifying trio defensively.
The Nets are limited in how many picks they can currently send out, but they acquired an unprotected 2029 first-round pick from the Mavericks in the Irving trade and own a 2027 protected first-round pick from the 76ers. It's hard to know how good those picks will be because they're several years down the road, but they could be valuable.
Why Raptors say no: Siakam is the best player in this deal — and it's not even close.
It was a discussion a couple of years ago, but Simmons has been a shell of himself this season. Through 37 games, he's averaging career lows of 7.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6.4 assists. (ESPN's Bobby Marks recently said that Simmons currently has no trade value around the league.) With two years remaining on his contract, the Raptors would have to be pretty confident that he could get back to his All-Star ways.
Even then, Simmons, Claxton and Barnes could be a clunky trio offensively because they're each limited shooters who live in the paint. They'd probably have to be surrounded by two lights-out shooters for the experiment to even have a chance of working.
TSN's Josh Lewenberg was told by one league source that the Raptors have been "reluctant to seriously engage with offers for Siakam." If we're still assuming a team would have to blow the Raptors away in order to snag Siakam, it's hard to imagine this trade going through without someone like Cam Thomas, a 21-year-old guard who's coming off back-to-back 40-point games, and/or additional draft capital being involved.
