Last season featured major change for the Toronto Raptors.
The team opted to trade Pascal Siakam and O.G. Anunoby. The moves paved the way for Scottie Barnes to be the franchise player.
The Raptors were able to surround Barnes with Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett. Those two young pieces were great additions to provide more of a scoring punch.
Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes re-graded those trades by Toronto, giving the Raptors a “B” for the Anunoby deal and an “A-” for the Siakam deal. These look to be fair grades seeing what the Raptors got back.
Instead of opting to receive a first-round pick in the Anunoby deal, Toronto got back two young talents in Barrett and Quickley who immediately became key starters.
On the other hand, the Raptors elected to trade Siakam in a deal that heavily focused on draft compensation. The Raptors got back Bruce Brown as the main player in that deal but they are likely looking to turn him into draft compensation at this season’s trade deadline. Outside of Brown, the Raptors got 3 first-round picks for Siakam. One of the first-round picks became Ja’Kobe Walter (selected at no. 19 in the 2024 NBA Draft). The other first-rounder was traded for Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji who continues to develop. Finally, the last first-round pick could end up being the real prize. The Raptors have the Pacers 2026 first-round pick which is top-4 protected.
Ultimately, Hughes gave fair grades on both trades. Toronto got back young players with upside and draft compensation, in respective deals, which sets the team’s future up nicely.
RJ Barrett gets brutally honest about Raptors
Injuries have derailed the Raptors season at this point with key players missing extended time.
With some blowout losses and poor performances, RJ Barrett got brutally honest about the team’s latest efforts.
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