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Overcooked: The Toronto Raptors are not looking to trade AND Anunobyleague sources told HoopsHype. For Toronto to consider trading Anunoby, it would have to be a substantial trade package for the soon-to-be 25-year-old forward along the lines of a noteworthy upgrade at center or a top-10 draft pick.
Toronto has been linked to several centers such as Rudy Gobert, Myles Turner, Jusuf Nurkic, Jakob Poeltl, Nicolas Claxtonetc.
With the emergence of Scottie BarnesAnunoby is Toronto’s best trade asset if the organization wants to acquire a true center and move Pascal Siakam to power forward and Barnes to small forward for more of a traditional lineup.
Murphy: Your league sources are right. It would take a lot for the Raptors to move Anunoby. Masai Ujiri loves this kid. He’s really good. He’s an all-world defender. He’s very efficient when he’s playing a tertiary lower usage spot-up dominant role. They still think there’s some upside in his self-creation game.
If you’re looking at a team where there are six or seven mouths to feed and only so many balls to go around, it’s hard to make the case to funnel more of the offense his way when he’s in and out of the lineup, and when he’s not quite as efficient as some of the other guys. He was probably their most well-rounded offensive player in the postseason. Pascal Siakam was obviously their best player. OG had a higher usage and had a pretty efficient postseason. That’s what you’re hoping for from him. But he was also in the 11th percentile as an isolation scorer this season.
I think this is mostly a case that other teams would like to have Anunoby, and they look at a Raptors team that has six core pieces, and long-term, maybe some of those guys get unhappy with their usage rate.
As it pertains to the Raptors’ interest in a trade, I don’t think it’s any secret that OG would be the most logical trade chip in a lot of scenarios. While I think the team would prefer to trade Gary Trent Jr.he only has one year left before he can opt out. If you’re talking in terms of value that another team might see in a guy, it’s not quite the same since OG has an extra year on his deal, and he’s about the same price and a better all-around player.
Overcooked: He averaged 36 minutes and 17 points. It’s not like he wasn’t getting the ball. I think you’re spot on with the Trent note, which we’ll get into later on in the pod. When I look at his age, he’s got a lot of prime basketball left on a reasonable contract. Logically, he’s the most likely trade candidate. If you’re going to go for a guy like Gobert, he’s got to be the guy you’d have to part with.
Murphy: I don’t think Gobert is a reasonable target for the Raptors because they’d have to give up two pieces of their core to make the money work. Dan Tolzmantheir assistant GM, was at a pre-draft workout media session the other day and was asked if he thinks the No. 7 pick could turn into Anunoby (as in to develop into a similar caliber player like Anunoby over time). He said the way Anunoby’s going, probably not.
I think the Raptors would rather go into the season without a traditional center than trade OG for a center who is a worse player than OG is overall. They’re pretty committed to this 6-foot-9 (frontcourt) vision. They’re probably watching the Warriors and Celtics in a series where nobody playing key minutes is bigger than 6-foot-10, so you can do it. If you’re high on Precious Achiuwa as they are, do you trade Anunoby for a center who’s going to block some of Achiuwa’s minutes?
Overcooked: Precious is a guy Ujiri, from what I’ve heard, is a really big fan of.
