There is a lot of pressure for the Toronto Raptors to bounce back after a disappointing 2022-23 season.
After being eliminated in the Play-In Tournament, the Raptors had to make a change. While some anticipated roster changes, it ultimately was a new head coach.
Letting go out of championship head coach Nick Nurse, Toronto brought in Darko Rajakovic. However, there are still more decisions to be made in the near future.
Heading into the 2023-24 season, O.G. Anunoby and Pascal Siakam are set to become unrestricted free agents next summer. Both found themselves in heavy trade rumors in the offseason.
During the offseason, it seems that there was a Western Conference team interested in Anunoby and Siakam. That team is the Sacramento Kings, who impressed last season:
“2 guys that [The Kings] had conversations on over the Summer – OG Anunoby & Pascal Siakam”🧐@ShamsCharania on the Sacramento Kings. pic.twitter.com/rXKgQ8eaY0
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) October 30, 2023
The Raptors are off to a 2-3 start, recently losing to the rebuilding Portland Trail Blazers. After having a chance to retool during the summer, Toronto rolled the dice on this core of players.
There was mixed reception about this decision, but it is clear that Masai Ujiri and company still want to be a competitive team. However, if they continue to struggle, they will have to presumably move off of Anunoby and Siakam.
Anunoby has a sought-after skillset being a 3-and-D wing and Siakam is a versatile, scoring power forward, who can help many contending teams. If not, Ujiri will have to open up the pocketbooks and both players will most likely want the max, or near max money.
It will take time for Rajakovic to implement his system, but things can get dicey if winning doesn’t happen consisently with this team.
Anunoby is a name to monitor on the trade market
After an offseason with trade requests from Damian Lillard and James Harden, both players waited months for their respective trades.
Harden is now a Los Angeles Clipper and Lillard is a Milwaukee Buck. Now, the trade market is awaiting a new player to enter the fold.
It seems that Anunoby could be a name to monitor as the regular season progresses.
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