The Toronto Raptors continue to find themselves in trade rumors.
One player who keeps popping up in the rumor mill is Pascal Siakam. The soon to be 30-year-old will hit unrestricted free agency this summer.
It has been reported that Siakam and the Raptors are on the verge of parting ways, however Siakam’s contract situation has made things tricky.
Siakam has to freedom of signing with any team in the offseason as a free agent so if a team trades for him now, he could simply be a rental for them.
Another Raptors player who’s now officially eligible to be traded is Jakob Poeltl, per Bobby Marks:
Trade restrictions have now been lifted for the below players:
Cameron Johnson
*Miles Bridges
P.J. Washington
Coby White
Ayo Dosunmu
Austin Reaves
Rui Hachimura
Brook Lopez…— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) January 15, 2024
The Raptors traded for Poeltl at last season’s trade deadline in a win-now move. However, the Raptors went on to miss the playoffs losing in the first round of the play-in tournament to the Chicago Bulls.
This season has not gone to plan for the Raptors as they are in the mists of a developmental phase. They currently 12th in the Eastern Conference and it looks very likely that they could miss the playoffs once again.
Therefore, the Raptors could make all of their veteran pieces available ahead of the trade deadline along with Siakam. Dennis Schroder is someone who could garner a lot of interest and Poeltl.
Right now Poeltl is out indefinitely with a left ankle sprain he suffered in a game against the Golden State Warriors. He has missed the last 4 games because of the injury.
It’ll be interesting to see how aggressive Toronto decides to get closer to the trade deadline.
Darko Rajakovic says Raptors need to look at big picture
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic recently spoke about the Raptors developmental phase. He said that the team needs to understand the big picture and the transition the Raptors are going through.
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