NBA Trade Rumours: The Raptors have Options Two Weeks from the Deadline

Trade season has felt like it’s lasted forever... or just a month.

It all started on December 30th when the Toronto Raptors made their first big move — trading O.G. Anunoby, Malachi Flynn, and Precious Achiuwa to the New York Knicks in exchange for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley and a draft pick.

Three short weeks later, Pascal Siakam was traded to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Bruce Brown, Jordan Nwora, Kira Lewis Jr., and draft picks.

Now, with two weeks still left to go until the NBA Trade Deadline on February 8th, the Raptors may not be done making moves yet.

Who is Available for Trade

The short answer: basically most the team.

The longer answer is that unless your name is either Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, or RJ Barrett, you could be traded.

The front office has made it clear that they are building around Scottie Barnes, and the first steps of that were acquiring Immanuel Quickley (point guard) and RJ Barrett (forward). They’ve also mentioned wanted to build a team of guys around Barnes’ age range (22 years old), and Barrett and Quickley fit in with that vision.

Now, Jakob Poeltl has the possibility to be traded, but it’s highly doubtful, given what the the Raptors gave away for him, and the struggles they’ve had since Poeltl was injured a few weeks ago.

Of the rotation players, that leaves Gary Trent Jr., Bruce Brown, Dennis Schröder, and Chris Boucher as potential names to be traded. Anyone else on the team could POSSIBLY be thrown in as a value booster, but those names are where the real money is.

Trent Jr., after taking his player option for this season, will be a free agent this summer. He could possibly sign with Toronto again, though. Bruce Brown has only been a Raptor for a week, but seems to be garnering trade interest. Schröder may or may not have #Ragrets about coming to Toronto, and Boucher’s time as a Raptor may just be over.

The Biggest Rumours

One of the biggest rumours circulating the market after Siakam was traded was that the LA Lakers may be interested in Dennis Schröder (per ESPN). He played for them up until last year, when he signed a two-year deal with the Raptors.

While Schröder started the season in the season lineup — it was soon clear it was not working. Since December, he’s been coming off the bench and performing well. Yet, with the acquisition of Quickley at the guard position and the Raptors starting Trent Jr. now over Schröder, his place on the team isn’t locked in.

Enter the Lakers, who may want to bring him back to lead THEIR bench.

Now onto Bruce Brown.

When the Raptors brought in Brown from the Pacers, many thought it was a temporary move. Toronto could easily flip him to a contending team for draft compensation or young promising talent.

According to the Stein Report from January 21st, Toronto’s MINIMUM asking price for our new friend Bruce is a first round pick and a quality player. We all know how Masai is about asking prices, so that may just be the beginning.

Apparently, the phone has been RINGING about Bruce Brown. Masai has leverage, as Brown was a huge contributor to Denver’s championship run last season.

There’s a catch though — Brown cannot be aggregated with another Raptors player in a trade at the deadline. Yet, with a $22 million dollar salary this season and a $23 million dollar team option for next season, you can get some return.

The Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks both seem to be interested in Brown.

Yet, in the latest podcast from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnaroski, perhaps the Raptors will wait to move Brown — if at all.

Woj detailed that the Raptors may wait to move Bruce Brown until the draft, but the team is in “no rush.” He details they like having Brown around with the younger players.

Other than those two names, the rest of the noise surrounding the Raptors roster is just speculation.

While it is very likely that the Raptors make at least one more move before the deadline, Masai is not going to rush moving anyone else unless the the price is exactly right.