One leading NBA insider believes the Toronto Raptors have been resistant to trading off several of their top players because they are hoping to swing a game-changing trade for a certain MVP-level superstar.
A lot of the speculation heading into this year’s NBA trade deadline has been about the Toronto Raptors and if they will take the bold step of selling off top stars. The team is 24-30 and a game and a half out of the final spot in the NBA Play-in Tournament. A position they did not expect to be in more than have way through the 2022-2023 season.
Yet, despite having four players many contending teams around the league covet, the Raptors have not come anywhere close to making a trade. Furthermore, various reports have suggested the team has an absurdly high asking price for players like OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakim.
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For many NBA observers, the assumption was that the high asking price is a result of the market being reset after the massive return the Utah Jazz received in trades for All-Stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell in the summer. However, Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri may have a grand plan in mind he is waiting until the last minute to deploy.
Toronto Raptors still hoping for a Kevin Durant trade
On Friday, Kyrie Irving shook up the NBA world when it was revealed that he requested a trade from the Brooklyn Nets before the Feb. 9 trade deadline. This is not the first time he has been put on the trade block by the team or the first escape attempt from a star player.
In the summer, on two occasions, Kevin Durant requested a trade out of Brooklyn. In the end, cooler heads prevailed and the 13-time All-Star chose to stay in New York. The Raptors were one of the dozens of teams interested in trading for Durant, and it seems that stance has not changed.
- Kevin Durant stats (2022-2023): 29.7 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 5.3 APG, 38% 3PT
On Friday, Yahoo Sports NBA insider Jake Fischer reported that the word out of Toronto for the last month has been that the team would wait until the last minute before they decided on being sellers at the NBA trade deadline. Fischer speculates the reason is that the Raptors — and many other teams — have monitored the Nets all season to see if the ongoing drama would prevail and Durant could ask for an out again before the deadline.
It is unclear what Durant’s opinion is of Irving’s request, but playing together was a key part of his decision to sign with Brooklyn in 2019. Durant still has three seasons left on the extension he signed in 2022.
Compared to other teams around the league, the Toronto Raptors would offer a strong return for the Nets since they have all of their first-round draft picks for the rest of the decade, and could include Anunoby, Siakim, Fred VanVleet and Garry Trent, Jr. in a potential deal.