Levenberg: The Toronto Raptors' deadline day deals should help move the rebuild forward

TORONTO — Now with the NBA trade deadline in the rearview mirror, the Toronto Raptors have something they didn't have months ago.

Well, there are things they don't have. In four separate deals in the six weeks leading up to Thursday, Toronto let go of nearly half of its 15-man opening night roster, including its two longest-tenured players and four of its six oldest. After the dust settled, the return was as follows: six players – four of them under the age of 26 – and three draft picks.

But aside from significant roster turnover, the Raptors will come out of the trade season with a clear direction, something that's been missing as they try to balance the present and the future after the 2019 championship.

Forward O.G. In trading Anunabi to the New York Knicks, they added several players in the same age group as emerging stars Scotty Barnes, 22: Immanuel Quickley (24) and RJ Barrett (23).

In trading their best player and the last remaining core piece of a title team, Pascal Siakam, to the Indiana Pacers for a package based on draft capital, they signaled their intent to rebuild and build around Barnes.

The pair of moves they made Thursday were more subtle and won't exactly change the trajectory of the franchise, but should help move the process along.

“We did some heavy lifting a month ago,” Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said. “So I feel like this trade deadline we cleaned up a lot of things and addressed some of the things we talked about after the OG and Pascal trades.”

The first of their last two deals, a four-player trade with the Utah Jazz, was all about acquiring talent that fit the bill in the short and long term. The other, a player trade with the Brooklyn Nets, was a salary dump designed to create more flexibility moving forward.

The Raptors acquired Canadian big man Kelly Olynyk and third-year guard Ochai Agbaji from Utah — a couple of players they've had their eye on for some time.

Agbaji is a few years removed from leading Kansas to a national championship as a senior and becoming a lottery pick — he was selected 14th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2022 and sent to Utah in the Donovan Mitchell deal. After an impressive rookie season in which he started 22 games for the Jazz, Agbaji regressed somewhat as a sophomore, averaging 5.4 points in 20 minutes per contest (down from 7.9). However, the Wisconsin native continues to flash on both ends of the floor.

He's an active, high-motor defender who does a decent job of getting to the rim and finishing and has a good shot from the corners. In other words, he is a man of character; Raptors president Masai Ujiri has known his family for more than a decade, so there is a level of familiarity with him both on and off the court. And, at 23 years old, he fits the development window and has two more years of team control on his rookie contract.

Olynyk has little future with the club. The 11-year vet turns 33 by the end of the season and will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, though the Raptors own Bird's rights and appear willing to bring him back on a short-term deal depending on how the next few days play out. months pass. Not only will they look forward to seeing what he can bring in terms of leadership, Olimpic – a big player who can handle, pass and shoot – should also fit well in coach Darko Rajakovic's system. The plan seems to be for him to back up Jacob Poeltl and captain the second unit, but his ability to space the floor should allow Rajakovic to use him in a variety of hybrid formations, even ones that include Poeltl.

It doesn't hurt that he was born in Toronto and is a member of Canada's national team — helping the program win bronze and qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics last summer.

It cost less to acquire two rotation players. Kyra Lewis Jr. arrived in Toronto via the New Orleans Pelicans in the three-team Siakam trade and spent most of his brief time with the Raptors in the G League, logging just a handful of NBA minutes. Oft-injured vet Otto Porter Jr. hasn't played significant minutes since December and could have been waived had he not been included in the trade.

The pick going to Utah in the deal is the worst of the two 2024 first-round picks Toronto received for Siakam, which could come from the Oklahoma City Thunder or Los Angeles Clippers. The Raptors have four picks this summer that are considered weak draft picks, including three that could fall between 18 and 31. Giving up the 28th or 29th overall selection seems like a small price to pay for a prospect who has 110 games under his belt and, at worst, has proven to be a good two-way rotation player in this game. league.

In a subsequent move, the Raptors sent Dennis Schroeder and Thaddeus Young to Brooklyn for the expiring contract of Spencer Dinwiddie, who promptly opted out. The deal takes Schroeder's $13 million salary off the books for next season and gives the team more room to work in the summer, when more decisions need to be made.

The Raptors have been one of the most active teams in the NBA, leading up to a very difficult deadline. The Knicks bolstered their depth with Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks, the Philadelphia 76ers acquired sharpshooter Buddy Hield, and Oklahoma City added veteran insurance in Gordon Hayward. But none of the players or assets that switched teams Thursday were of the caliber of Siakam or Anunabi. However, there is a sense that Toronto could be even busier.

When all was said and done, they chose not to move Bruce Brown, Gary Trent Jr. or Chris Boucher. Brown was one of the more surprising players to leave on deadline day; There was no shortage of interest from rival teams looking to add the all-round vet to the Championship. From the time they acquired him in the Siakam trade last month to Thursday night's 3 p.m. p.m., the Raptors had plenty of offers for Brown on their table, including several that secured a first-round pick. , according to league sources.

However, they've made it clear to interested teams — New York, Milwaukee and the Lakers, among others — that they're not interested in adding to the 2024 Capitol roster or taking on a long-term salary. According to a source, the Knicks — a longtime Brown suitor — ultimately accepted his offer and reached a deal with the Pistons that saw them acquire the two-winger for less than what Toronto was looking for. If someone isn't willing to meet their asking price for Brown — prospects, expiring contracts and a future first — the Raptors said they're comfortable sticking with him and his uniquely structured contract, which could still be a valuable asset.

Brown has a team option for next season for $23 million. It's hard to see the Raptors being active in free agency given their uninspiring history of signing stars on the open market and the small list of players available this summer, but if they decide to go that route, they could potentially give up and open up his pick. extra cover space. Or, and more likely, they could make it happen and have the player they want on an expiring contract to buy out in the offseason or before next year's deadline.

They should also call Gary Trent Jr., a free agent who has had trouble reading the market. While the Raptors are open to moving the sixth-year guard, those talks haven't gotten far, sources said. He's shot the ball well, hitting 48 percent of his three-point attempts over his last 26 games. But with his fluctuating role this season, his inconsistent play on both ends of the floor and his contract status, it's likely that a second-round pick or two is what most teams want to offer for Trent Jr. If so, it makes sense to let him spend the season with this group and see how much it costs to bring him back in the summer. He's not a perfect fit in Rajakovic's system, but he brings important skills (shooting) and, at 25, he's young enough to grow with the team's new core.

Now that the deadline is behind us and they know what this roster will look like for the final 31 games of the season, the marching orders are clear. Even if Rajakovic wants to play with the vets and win, there aren't many of them left. That was part of Rajakovic's thought process for trading Schroeder, a favorite, and then giving up Dinwiddie.

For better or worse, the Raptors have to see what guys like Agbaji, rookie Grady Dick, and Jordan Nwora have. Quickley will continue to see all the reps he can command, as will Barrett, and without a backup point guard on the roster, Barnes should get plenty of opportunities to run the show.

They don't plan to actively pursue lottery picks, though, unless their first-round pick goes to the San Antonio Spurs in the top six — they're currently tied for sixth with the Memphis Grizzlies. a league-worst rate, giving them a 45.8% chance of retaining the pick. But even with good intentions, this isn't a list that's going to produce a lot of wins. They are 18-33 and have lost 12 of their last 15 games.

“We're going to prioritize seeing that group game,” Webster said. “If we finish in the top six, of course. But especially under the new NBA rules, trying to play a meaningless game. At the end of the day, it comes down to lottery balls. I think for us it's about playing that young group together, getting Grady with that group, seeing how they fit together because it gives us more information on how to build this team and what steps we need to take this summer. »

The organization has a lot of work to do, first developing the players they have and then surrounding them with the right pieces. It's not always pretty, that's life for teams in the early stages of a rebuild. But, for the first time in a while, the Raptors know where they're going and are starting to take steps in that direction.

“It could be a multi-year process,” Webster said. “So I think in terms of building around Scotty, you want to have young players that (fit) culturally, socially and energetically in his age group. You want to build the (right) skill set around him, so it will be interesting to see Kelly's skill set; I don't know if he has a player who plays like Kelly. And then there are the guys who want to be here, who want to run. I think Ochai's energy will fuel Scotty. So you're trying to reach all of the age, culture, social, skill sets, and we're going to continue to do that.”