NBA Trade Deadline 2023: What offers the Raptors should (and shouldn’t) consider

A salary-capped and luxury-taxed world is one that Jean-Ralphio Saperstein simply can’t fathom, let alone understand the intricacies of. While my attempts to be helpful this time of year are offered in good faith, he’d very likely lean in for a whisper and then tell you loudly that I am the wooorst.

This time of year, at least.

The Trade Machine Killjoy is back for another installation of my annual “all your trade ideas are bad” column. That snappy title isn’t entirely fair — over the years, readers and fans have become exponentially smarter around the rules of the NBA’s trade market and what constitutes a good deal for multiple sides — but it’s an easy way to set the mailbag up.

If you’re new to this piece, it’s essentially me sorting through dozens of trade ideas from colleagues and readers, picking out the ones that are most interesting to discuss, and explaining why it is or isn’t a plausible deal in my eyes. Some years, the exercise gets us close to a deal that actually happens. Other years, the deadline is a flop. And in special years, my heart shatters to pieces as Bruno Caboclo is traded in a tax-ducking move.

Before continuing, I recommend reading my trade deadline primer, as I won’t be explaining in detail why certain things aren’t legal. I also put together what I hope is a handy spreadsheet everyone can use that outlines the incoming and outgoing picks for each team, their tax proximity, and their roster broken down into contract tiers.

Finally, before we dive in, a few points to consider:

Endowment effect: We tend to value what we have more than other people do. You probably value some of your team’s assets more than the market does, for this reason.

Reverse endowment effect: The opposite can occur, when you throw in the towel on an asset and are willing to deal him just to move on. Higher aspirations, and all.

Endowment dissonance: There’s an incongruous middle ground between those two effects where we sometimes assume the players we’re out on will have some value in the eyes of another. For example, you no longer think William Lou is worth a rotation spot on your rec league team, yet you assume another team would be eager to trade asserts for him.

Engineered endowment: This is The Kyle Lowry Corollary, as it were. It’s a term I made up to explain why the endowment effect is actually accurate in some cases, because some players have more value in their current situation than elsewhere due to institutional knowledge, chemistry, roster construction, and so on.

Realistic draft value: The closer the pick, the more valuable. The higher it projects to be, the more valuable. The less protected it is, the more valuable. Picks provide that value in two ways: As future players who return significant surplus value if they hit, and as currency in future trades. That doesn’t mean throwing infinite second rounders at a trade will get it done.

The golden rule: Ask yourself: if you were a fan of the other team, would you be excited about the proposal?

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Trade Group 1: O.G. Anunoby

In a somewhat surprising turn, Anunoby has become the hottest Raptors name in the weeks leading up to the deadline. While Anunoby is a less obvious “sell” chip — he has at least one more year left on his contract, is 25, fits the Raptors’ system well and is, uh, quite good — he’s also the type of plug-and-play piece that any contender would see as a difference-maker. Going through Anunoby trade scenarios was painful as a long-time believer in him, but it’s not hard to envision a Western Conference bidding war picking up, both to acquire Anunoby and prevent a rival contender from acquiring him.

Trade 1, from William Lou: Anunoby to the Grizzlies for Brandon Clarke, Danny Green, a 2023 first-round pick (MEM), and a 2024 first-round pick (GSW, via MEM)

Will manages to thread the needle with the poison-pill provision here that makes Clarke a difficult piece to trade. The harder part might be selling the Grizzlies on dealing with a pair of picks to upgrade from Clarke to Anunoby. Anunoby is a better and more valuable player, to be sure. Clarke, though, has four more years left on his contract beyond this one at a price tag well below Anunoby’s (and what Anunoby will get on his next contract). Still, turning a solid player ninth on your team in minutes into a bonafide two-way starter is a huge jump in a tight west. Toronto’s side isn’t as much about Clarke — he’s good! — as it is about fading the Warriors over the next while. That pick Will included is only top-four protected for 2024, top-one protected in 2025, and completely unprotected in 2026.

Other Anunoby-Grizzlies deals
Anunoby for Dillon Brooks, Ziaire Williams, and two first-round picks
Anunoby for Green, Williams, and a 2023 first-round pick (MEM)

Clearly, that’s a massive gap in value for two similarly structured proposals. Brooks might be someone you could secure in the right trade, but it would come with less pick equity, not more. I doubt the Raptors are high enough on Williams to take back only a single pick. The latter offer speaks to a tough part of any Memphis-Anunoby framework: The Grizzlies’ biggest need isn’t more defence, it’s more halfcourt offensive punch. Maybe we’ll see if there’s a Gary Trent Jr. scenario for them later.

Trade 2, from Eric Koreen: Anunoby, Khem Birch, and Malachi Flynn to the Suns in a three-team trade that sends Jae Crowder to the Bucks and Dario Saric, Torrey Craig, Grayson Allen, MarJon Beauchamp, a 2023 first-round pick (PHX), a 2025 first-round pick (PHX), and a 2027 second-round pick (PHX) to the Raptors

Eric grabbed my attention with this one by dangling that we’d need a subsequent move that trimmed an insignificant amount of salary so that the Raptors could avoid the luxury tax. That’s talking my language.

As for the trade itself, it’s effectively Anunoby and filler for a platter of potential bench pieces and a couple of very interesting draft assets. Saric and Craig are useful, even if the Raptors don’t intend to win a lot down the stretch, as they’re useful rotation pieces the team would hold Bird rights on to re-sign in the summer if they like what they see. Beauchamp is a recent first-round pick who fits some of the criteria the Raptors look for in developmental pieces and looked intriguing everywhere except the 3-point line in the G League last year. The toughest part of the framework is having to cheer for Allen the next year-plus, as he’s owed $8.5 million next year to knock down threes and annoy opposing fanbases. It’s the 2025 pick from Phoenix, if unprotected, that stands out most to me: If new Suns ownership goes all-in to make a splash and capitalize on the last of the Chris Paul window, this team could be in a tough spot sooner than later.

This might be too much player equity for the Bucks to channel into Crowder, preferring second-rounders to Beauchamp. As we’ll see momentarily, some think the Suns could be exactly this aggressive.

Other Anunoby-Suns trades
Anunoby, Birch, and Flynn for Saric, Landry Shamet, Cam Johnson, and two unprotected first-round picks

Anunoby for Crowder, Saric, an unprotected 2024 first-round pick (PHX), an unprotected 2026 first-round pick (PHX), and an unprotected 2028 first-round pick (PHX)

If the second deal there seems like Toronto wishcasting, please note that it came from my pal Michael Pina at The Ringer, and he is just about as smart as they come. The thinking here, again, would be new Suns ownership surveying the immediate landscape and a suboptimal medium-term roster/cap situation and deciding to go all-in, with Toronto fading the post-Paul era of the Suns. I’d prefer the boatload of picks to the package of Shamet (an inexpensive and useful bench piece) and Johnson (a plug-and-play spacing wing who is older than Anunoby and a pending free agent).

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Trade 3, from Eric Koreen: Anunoby to the Thunder for Luguentz Dort, Jalen/Jaylin Williams, and the least favorable of OKC/LAC 2023 first-round pick

I’m mostly including this one so I could make the Ja(y)l(e/i)n Williams joke, or “for the lesser of J. Williams, top-one J. Williams protected” or however you want to frame it. In any case, Eric is probably right that Jaylin is not enough and Jalen causes the Thunder to balk. I don’t think a win-now move is particularly in the cards for the Thunder, however, they and the Pacers are the Anunoby landing spots where you could see an offseason extension making sense, thus adding Anunoby to the long-term core in a way that isn’t really win-now.

Anunoby-Pelicans trades

Anunoby for Devonte’ Graham, Dyson Daniels, Herbert Jones, a 2023 first-round pick (NO), and the right to swap 2024 first-round picks with MIL

Anunoby for Graham, Daniels, and a 2024 first-round pick (LAL)

Anunoby for Jaxson Hayes, Trey Murphy III, Daniels, a 2023 first-round pick (NO), a 2024 first-round pick (LAL), and a 2025 first-round pick (NO)

Anunoby and Juancho Hernangomez for Graham, Kira Lewis Jr., Jones, the better of LAL/NO 2023 first-round pick, and a 2025 first-round pick (MIL, top-4 protected)

That’s a lot of meat! Let’s try to simplify.

Anunoby
for
Graham (for salary matching)
One or two of Daniels, Jones, Murphy, and Lewis
Two or three of the five first-round picks available to the Pelicans between 2023 and 2025
One of the three pick-swaps available to the Pelicans between 2023 and 2026
On the condition that the better your haul from one bin, the lesser your haul from the others

There’s also the possibility of acquiring Jonas Valanciunas instead of Graham to match salary, lessening the prospect or pick equity coming back. For example, a Pelicans writer suggested a package of Jones, Valanciunas, and Naji Marshall, on the condition the Lakers picks were not included as a part of the package.

The main takeaway here should probably be that if the Pelicans were engaged on Anunoby, they have a lot of different frameworks and assets to get a deal done. Daniels, Lewis, Murphy, Jones, and Marshall all have extremely affordable contracts with term remaining, and the quibbling could come down to protections on picks or an additional roster player coming back to New Orleans to balance things out.

Anunoby-Nuggets trades
Anunoby, Thad Young, and Birch for Michael Porter Jr. and Bones Hyland

This is a deal Nuggets writer T.J. McBride and I kicked around, after he started with a framework of Anunoby and Trent for Porter, Hyland, and the limited pick equity the Nuggets have available to them. If Toronto wants long-term draft assets in an Anunoby deal, this isn’t the trade partner, as Denver already owes protected first-round picks in 2023, 2025, and 2027. If the Raptors want good, young players, this gets interesting.

Hyland is an obvious fit as a dynamic scoring guard with two more years left on his deal beyond this one, especially in a scenario where Trent is also outbound. The tough part is Porter, who has five years and $179.3 million on his deal (including this season), and who has dealt with back issues. Do the Raptors feel comfortable enough with his medicals to take on that kind of contract, even for Hyland? Does an unprotected 2029 first-round pick — with the Thunder agreeing to change some 2027 protections to allow for it — get them there? The Porter health question is one I can’t answer.

Anunoby-Trail Blazers trades
Anunoby for Shaedon Sharpe, Josh Hart, and draft equity

There were a few different versions of this same framework that had different swaps or protections but were mostly the same: Sharpe, Hart, and two pieces of draft capital. My read on the situation is that Portland was quite interested at draft time, before their No. 7 pick became the Canadian prospect Sharpe. These new frameworks effectively ask for more than at the draft — Sharpe is a better prospect than Nassir Little, even if a 2025 or 2027 pick from Portland is of undetermined value — and it could be hard for Portland to part with more now for less runway with Anunoby. Portland is also in a weird position for dealing picks, as they’d need to remove lottery protection on their 2023 first-rounder (owed to Chicago), something they may not be willing to do while on the fringes of the playoffs.

Other Anunoby trades

Anunoby to the Pacers for Buddy Hield, Boston’s 2023 first-round pick (top-12 protected), and two unprotected first-round picks

Anunoby and Birch to the Knicks for Evan Fournier, Immanuel Quickley, Obi Toppin, and two 2023 first-round picks (NY and Was, lottery-protected)

Anunoby to the Kings for Richaun Holmes, Davion Mitchell, and draft picks

Anunoby and Young to the Kings for Keegan Murray, Mitchell, Malik Monk, and draft picks

Anunoby to the Pistons for Bojan Bogdanovic and a first-round pick
Anunoby to the Cavaliers for Jarrett Allen

Let’s go through these ones rapid-fire: The Pacers should like the idea of securing Anunoby and extending him in the offseason, but not at the price of three first-round picks and their best trade asset while they’re still rebuilding. … The Knicks are a fascinating Anunoby discussion because “three first-round picks” could range from three unprotected firsts that let you bet against the Knicks front office or the three well-protected extra first-rounders the Knicks hold in 2023. Eating Fournier’s deal is a nice way to grease the wheels, but I’d be surprised if you get the pick equity and Quickley in the same swoop. … Those two Kings offers have an extreme gap in value, so look for a middle ground, but note that Sacramento can’t trade a first until 2026, and even that would depend on the protections on their 2024 first-rounder owed to Atlanta. … The Pistons aren’t trading away draft picks yet, and probably look to sell Bogdanovic rather than use him to upgrade. … An Anunoby-Allen swap does a lot on paper for both teams, and both teams probably ask for more. It’s the veteran version of an Evan Mobley-Scottie Barnes trade.

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Trade Group 2: Gary Trent Jr.

A lot of the same logic will hold for Trent trades as Anunoby trades, with two key differences: Anunoby is better, and Trent is closer to free agency. Together, those things mean Trent should be a bit less valuable in trade. However, remember that the team acquiring him also acquires his Bird rights, letting them exceed the cap to re-sign him this summer. For some teams, a Trent trade would be about doing their offseason shopping early, not just loading up for the stretch run.

Trade 1, from William Lou: Trent to the Suns in a three-team deal that sends Trent, Serge Ibaka, and George Hill to Phoenix, Jae Crowder to Milwaukee, and Saric, Jordan Nwora, a 2024 first-round pick (PHX), a 2024 second-round pick (POR, via MIL), and the right to swap first-round picks with Phoenix in 2025 to Toronto

This is fairly similar to an Anunoby framework we looked at. The Bucks part of things is mostly the same here: Give up a few lower-end assets for Crowder, in this case salary-matching chips in Ibaka and Hill, a prospect in Nwora, and a mid-round future second. It might be a bit on the high end, but we’ve heard rumblings the Bucks will throw salaries and seconds around to land Crowder.

The Suns side is tougher. They gave up Saric, Crowder, Craig, two firsts, and a second for Anunoby and filler pieces in Koreen’s scenario, and here they give up Saric, Crowder, a first, and a pick swap for Trent and a pair of veteran bench fliers. Is a package of Craig, a first and a second worth the difference between Trent and Anunoby? I’d say yes, given the extra year on Anunoby’s contract and his defensive value. Teams’ interest in Ibaka and Hill may vary.

For Toronto, this is pretty straightforward as a year-plus look at Nwora, the option to re-up Saric with Bird rights if he fits, and a couple of interesting draft assets. If they’re resigned to being priced out of Trent discussions this summer and are fine with the draft return being further into the future, it’s not bad.

Trent-Knicks trades

Trent for Cam Reddish, Isaiah Hartenstein, Quentin Grimes, and a 2023 first-round pick (DAL, top-10 protected)

Trent and Chris Boucher for Fournier, Hartenstein, and Quickley

Trent and Hernangomez for Reddish, Hartenstein, and Deuce McBride

Trent for Fournier, Quickley, and the better of NY/DAL 2023 first-round pick

Trent to Knicks in a three-team deal that sends Hernangomez and Quickley to the Jazz and Reddish and Nickeil Alexander-Walker to the Raptors

I love the level of creativity here in finding five ways to accomplish Trent for depth pieces and/or young fliers. I don’t think Trent moves the needle enough for the Knicks to include Quickley in a deal, given earlier reporting on how they view Quickley. Grimes would be very interesting as a Raptors-y prospect skill-wise who is a bit on the smaller side for that archetype. Hartenstein, while not exactly cheap at $8 million next year, is the type of rim-runner and rim-protector the Raptors lack and could fill an immediate rotation role.

The Knicks are always a hard team to get a feel for. Would it surprise you if they love Trent’s swagger and scoring ability and are willing to overpay to make a push to avoid the play-in? Would it surprise you if they think Quickley is the next breakout point guard? With a more normal team, attaching assets to Fournier’s bad deal for a major upgrade on that spot should be straightforward. For the Knicks, things rarely are.

Other Trent trades

Trent to the Spurs for Jakob Poeltl and a 2023 first-round pick (CHA, dual protections)

Trent to the Lakers in a three-team deal that sends Poeltl and Max Christie to the Raptors, and Patrick Beverley, Christian Koloko, a 2027 first-round pick (LAL), and a 2023 second-round pick (CHI, via LAL)

Trent to the Mavericks for Davis Bertans and Josh Green

Trent and Birch to the Mavericks for Reggie Bullock, Dwight Powell, and a first-round pick

Trent to the Pelicans for Graham and Murphy

Trent to the Hornets for Terry Rozier

Trent to the Nets for Joe Harris and a first-round pick

Let’s go through these (Immanuel) quickly: The Trent-Poeltl framework is one Will and I have spent a lot of air on during The Raptors Show. It probably needs a third team, and the Spurs certainly won’t be sending out pick equity when they’re reported to have a high pick asking price for Poeltl. … The Lakers three-teamer that follows makes the Lakers even thinner than they already are and uses one of their only trade chips, so I’d guess they swing for bigger. …  Eating Bertans’ contract to pick up Green could be good business, but I’m asking for picks back in that deal as well. The subsequent deal makes the Mavericks worse. … A Trent-Pelicans framework is similarly easy to the Anunoby-Pelicans frameworks discussed earlier, just with fewer assets attached to Graham. Take your pick quibbling on the specific prospects and picks. … Is the Rozier one a troll? … The Nets traded Kyrie Irving since this piece was initially written. There are some interesting Raptors-Nets follow-up trades, once the dust settles.

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Trade Group 3: Fred VanVleet

The situation with VanVleet is a bit more complicated than Anunoby and Trent, as he likely has fewer suitors, but those suitors would be very eager. The chance to add VanVleet to a championship-level core, scale his role back a bit, and hope he reverts to closer to his 2018-22 self defensively is an intriguing one, and you acquire his Bird rights for this offseason. If you figure to be a luxury tax team next year, this is a better option for jumping the line on VanVleet than a sign-and-trade in the summer, as a sign-and-trade hard-caps you for the season.

VanVleet-Suns trades

VanVleet for Crowder, Bismack Biyombo, two first-round picks, and one first-round pick swap

VanVleet and Young for Deandre Ayton

VanVleet and Hernangomez for Johnson, Cameron Payne, and Saric

VanVleet for Biyombo, Crowder, and Johnson

VanVleet for two first-round picks

Alright, we have unearthed the worst pocket of this column for this year, a combination of poor value for a very good player or deals that don’t comply with the salary cap. Realistically, the Raptors aren’t moving VanVleet without at least two real prospects or picks coming back, and Johnson barely qualifies as a 26-year-old about to be a free agent. The real question is how each individual views Ayton. I’m on record as not being a big fan on a max contract and with some of the areas his game has plateaued. With that said, he is a good player, and if you’re in a scenario where you’d be losing a player for nothing or flipping him for an overpaid good player, I’d take the player.

Other VanVleet trades

VanVleet to the Pelicans for Graham, Garrett Temple, Daniels, and a 2023 first-round pick

VanVleet to the Magic for Wendell Carter Jr. and Jalen Suggs

VanVleet and Hernangomez for Suggs, Mo Wagner, and Terrence Ross

VanVleet to the Bulls for Lonzo Ball and a 2023 first-round pick (POR, lottery protected)

VanVleet and Dalano Banton to the Clippers for Terance Mann, John Wall, Luke Kennard, a 2028 first-round pick (top-10 protected), and a 2023 second-round pick

VanVleet to the 76ers for Tyrese Maxey

VanVleet to the Pacers for Tyrese Haliburton

VanVleet to the Nets for Ben Simmons

With the swiftness, once again: The Pelicans deal is really fun if you believe VanVleet’s defence can come back to a high level with a smaller workload. Without that, he and CJ McCollum could be a tough fit together. Offensively, it would be a massive win for New Orleans either way, and the Raptors getting Daniels and a mid-round first is solid, if unspectacular. … Magic frameworks are tough to get excited about despite the assets because they’re the VanVleet suitor that has the most leverage in trade, as their path to cap space is simple this summer. … A VanVleet-Ball now-for-later flip would mean the Bulls aren’t blowing it up, and maybe you could leverage them for a better second asset (although they don’t own their own pick this year). … VanVleet to the Clippers makes tons of sense for on-court fit and so the Clippers could re-sign him without worrying about a sign-and-trade hard-cap. Mann is a nice piece with two years of control, but taking back Kennard’s contract might leave me asking for that 2028 pick to be fully unprotected. … None of those one-for-one swaps are happening. The Nets, though…give me a minute.

More from Sportsnet

Who will stay and who will go? A Toronto Raptors’ NBA trade-deadline preview

NBA Trade Targets: 4 potential destinations for Raptors’ VanVleet

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Trade Group 4: Multiple core pieces outbound

Most of those trades involved just one of the core. There’s no rule about that, so let’s double up.

Trade 1, from Michael Grange: VanVleet and Anunoby to Sacramento for Murray, Harrison Barnes, Mitchell, and a future first-round pick

Grange says: The Kings are determined (desperate!?) to make the playoffs and could use a defensive presence like Anunoby (because everyone can) and the kind of point guard depth and playoff experience and general Fred stuff that Fred provides. The Raptors get a promising high lottery pick in on a rookie deal in Murray, Mitchell on a rookie deal and Barnes’ bird rights as well as a pick. It is essential that whatever move the Raptors make they end up with more positive assets (players/picks) than they send out.

I say: It’s a pretty spicy return, and you’d almost certainly be able to find another home for Barnes in a subsequent deal for more assets (or take back, say, Holmes as filler, and get more out of the Kings). This deal would almost definitely mean exploring a Pascal Siakam trade in the summer, because it’s a firm timeline shift.

Trade 2, from JD Bunkis: VanVleet and Trent to Los Angeles Lakers for Russell Westbrook, a 2027 first-round pick (LAL), and a 2029 first-round pick (LAL)

Full disclosure here: JD sent me some version of this trade months ago and brought it up regularly throughout the year. Then other media started to kick it around. And now that Kyrie Irving is a member of the Mavericks, maybe the Lakers become desperate enough to leave those picks fully unprotected.

Other multi-core, two-team trades

Anunoby and Trent to the Grizzlies for Jaren Jackson Jr., Danny Green, and two second-round picks

VanVleet, Trent, and two first-round picks to the Thunder for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

VanVleet and Anunoby to the Cavaliers for Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro

You’re not getting the DPOY/All-Star from the Grizzlies in just about any scenario. … Probably ditto for Gilgeous-Alexander, as the Thunder already have infinite picks and seem primed to compete as soon as next season, so long as they keep Gilgeous-Alexander. … There are a handful of Raps-Cavs deals that could conceivably improve the teams and would see both fanbases completely melt down. Here for the chaos, if not the framework.

I excluded some of the more elaborate three- and four-team trades because of the size of this column and the infinite possibilities you could create. (Plus, most of them were either very bad or already covered, from a discussion standpoint, with our deals to this point.)

Trade Group 5: Nuclear

Let’s get weird.

Trade 1, from JD Bunkis: Siakam to the Thunder,  Dort to the Jazz, Talen Horton-Tucker, Chet Holmgren, Darius Bazley, Ochai Agbaji, a 2023 first-round pick (OKC), a 2024 first-round pick (LAC via OKC), and a 2025 first-round pick (MIN via UTA)

Bunkis’ logic here is that the Thunder and Jazz are both closer to being good than maybe they expected at this point, and they’re equipped with more picks than they could ever really use. The Raptors, meanwhile, get a few of those picks and a blue-chip flier in Holmgren to completely hit the eject button on this core, subsequently dealing VanVleet and perhaps more. The Thunder would almost definitely protect their 2023 pick in any scenario, at least with top-two protection.

We also had a submission that basically blew up the team and draft assets for Kyle Kuzma, Monte Morris and Daniel Gafford, or Clint Capela and Bogdan Bogdanovic, or Malik Beasley, Jordan Clarkson and Kelly Olynyk, or Poeltl, Doug McDermott and Josh Richardson, and so on. To which I ask…why? Pick a lane. If you’re sending out core pieces, why are you sending out future assets, too? And if you are buying — it’s probably too late, but let’s give them a break — surely you can sell the farm for better cows than these?

There were some other interesting challenge-trade types, like a VanVleet-Trent-picks package for Trae Young, or Siakam for a handful of Grizzlies or 76ers pieces. Let’s save those franchise-altering deals for the offseason.

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Trade Group 6: The others

Boucher and Young to the Knicks for Fournier and two first-round picks

Boucher and Birch to the Heat for Duncan Robinson, Nikola Jovic, and a 2026 second-round pick

Boucher to the Heat for Robinson

Boucher to the Wizards for Johnny Davis and Gafford

Boucher and a pick to the Bulls for Coby White and Andre Drummond

Boucher to the Bulls for White and Drummond

Boucher, Banton, and two second-round picks to the Clippers for Mann and Kennard

Nick Nurse to the Timberwolves for Chris Finch and a second-round pick

Good to know everyone else has as little an idea of what Boucher’s value would be in trade as I do. You can see here that the suggestions are all over the place, from attaching picks to him for bad players to getting picks back. I do generally like the idea of using your mid-tier salaries to take on bad money if it gets you real assets back, since you’re likely to be an above-cap team anyway. I can also fix Johnny Davis. I can. I don’t think anything here clicks for me.

Some lower-end targets I’d find somewhat interesting in smaller deals or as ancillary pieces in larger deals: Jalen Johnson (ATL), P.J. Washington (CHA, RFA), Khalifa Diop (CLE, draft rights), Josh Green (DAL), Zeke Nnaji (DEN), Hamidou Diallo (DET, UFA), Patrick Baldwin Jr. (GS), Josh Christopher (HOU), Amir Coffey (LAC), Max Christie (LAL), Wenyen Gabriel (LAL, UFA), Xavier Tillman (MEM, TO), Ziaire Williams (MEM), Santi Aldama (MEM), Satnam Singh (MEM, draft rights), MarJon Beauchamp (MIL), Hugo Besson (MIL, draft rights), Josh Minott (MIN), Jaylen Nowell (MIN, UFA), Isaiah Hartenstein (NY), Tre Mann (OKC), Chuma Okeke (ORL), Jaden Springer (PHI), Trendon Watford (POR), Richaun Holmes (SAC), Davion Mitchell (SAC), KZ Okpala (SAC, TO), Nickeil Alexander-Walker (UTA, RFA), Udoka Azubuike (UTA, UFA), Daniel Gafford (WAS)

Some other stray thoughts: The Raptors have about $4.5 million under the tax in wiggle room. If it’s not eaten up in another trade, that could be used to facilitate a multi-team deal or even just squeeze a second out of a team close to the tax line themselves (e.g., 76ers). … I think it might be time to find Flynn a redraft home and kick the tires on another later-contract rookie-scale type in that place. … Semi-related, if there are open roster spots post-deadline, Jeff Dowtin Jr. being converted to a standard contract makes sense to me. That takes away the 10-day contract option (assuming it’s the last spot), but you can sign someone else to the two-way slot after. … There is an explosive path to cap space in the summer for the Raptors if they got extremely aggressive these next few days. The 2023 free agent list is not particularly sexy. … Based on today’s standings (pre-lottery), the Magic (5, 9, 35), Pacers (7, 24, 30, 32), Hornets (4, 29, 46), Jazz (17, 18, 27), Kings (23, 37, 53), Grizzlies (26, 48, 56), and Celtics (42, 52, 60) are the teams with more than two picks in the 2023 draft, if you’re looking to get an extra swing this year.

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