The trade deadline is now less than a week away for the Toronto Raptors.
After trading Pascal Siakam and O.G. Anunoby, more moves could be looming for Toronto. A name on the Raptors that has been at the forefront of trade rumors is Bruce Brown.
Brown was acquired in the Siakam trade from Indiana and he has garnered a ton of interest. As the Raptors embrace a rebuild, they are ideally looking for a first-round pick for the NBA champion.
Toronto must get as much draft capital as possible for their remaining trade chips. With teams looking to solidify their playoff push, Brown certainly is capable of helping that.
Now only a couple of days away from the deadline, Masai Ujiri is not moving off his asking price. According to NBA insider Marc Stein, Ujiri continues his search for a first-round pick for Brown:
“Raptors president Masai Ujiri continues to search for a first-round pick as the centerpiece of any Bruce Brown trade, league sources say. The Lakers and Knicks continue to be mentioned as interested suitors.”
In the last five games for the Raptors, Brown is averaging 10.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.4 steals on 42.6% from the field and 45.5% from three-point range.
Since it is a buyer’s market with few sellers, asking prices have been high for role players. As the deadline approaches, teams usually lower their asking price to make a deal.
As Feb. 8 approaches, it will be worth monitoring to see if Ujiri will hold strong on his price or if a team will cough up a first-round pick for Brown’s services.
The Lakers have been linked to Brown since last summer during free agency and seem to be a prominent suitor. Toronto will certainly be active on the phones this week as they look to make a few more trades happen.
Bruce Brown top trade target for Lakers
Brown could easily fit on any team as his playstyle compliments a lot of star players in the league. He was extremely successful playing alongside Nikola Jokic last year with the Denver Nuggets.
He would certainly mesh well with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as the Lakers seem to have Brown as one of their top trade targets.
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