The rumors will finally come to a close on Thursday, but for now, it seems these two generational players are at the forefront of Toronto's agenda.
For the past few months, there have been rumors about what’s to come on or before the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 5th at 3:00 PM EST. The Toronto Raptors have been mentioned continuously as one of the most active teams leading up to the deadline for two reasons.
The first is trying to acquire a third star to pair with All-Stars Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram. The remaining starters have not lived up to the substantial contracts they are on, so moving them and returning a third star would relieve financial stability and allow for more significant production.
Toronto Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley (5) | © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Avoiding having to pay luxury tax fines for the league-mandated threshold for total player payroll is the second reason, which they currently surpass by just under $1 million. The easiest way to do this would be to trade a player like Ochai Agbaji, who is currently in the final year of his 4-year, ~$18 million rookie deal, and is set to become a restricted free agent this offseason.
Looking in the direction of the available stars on the market, two multiple-time All-Star big men have been linked to the Raptors as a possible landing spot before the end of the week. ESPN’s Shams Charania shared the news live on SportsCenter on Monday.
“Anthony Davis … the [Dallas] Mavericks are continuing to get calls from Toronto as well as [the] Atlanta [Hawks],” said Charania. “Domantas Sabonis in Sacramento, that’s another name to keep an eye on … he’s going to be someone, whether you’re Toronto, teams like that that might have their eye on a big man.”
While Charania is the league’s most well-known and respected insider, his reports tend to conflict with other rumors coming from the Toronto Raptors. It has become more and more clear that the coaching staff and All-Stars from the Raptors prefer to play out this season with the core at hand, testing their ability to contend in what’s widely considered a “wide-open” Eastern Conference. After missing the playoffs for the past three consecutive seasons, the Raptors find themselves in a tie for the fourth seed in the East through 51 games with the Cleveland Cavaliers, yet just two games out of the second seed.
If general manager Bobby Webster and the Raptors do manage to pull off a trade for one of these superstars, the package would most likely be centered around either Immanuel Quickley or RJ Barrett, with Jakob Poeltl also being involved for matching contracts. With the Kings just trading for Cleveland’s De’Andre Hunter, it would be puzzling to see Barrett join him, along with DeMar DeRozan, for the small forward rotation. It seems both the Mavericks and Kings are looking to rebuild around younger talent, so the return may not necessarily matter much if the draft compensation suffices.