Does this trade make sense for the Toronto Raptors?

There is not a pressing need to trade Pascal Siakam by any stretch of the imagination. He was recently a No. 2 scoring option on a championship team and there is little reason to believe he’s incapable of making a major impact for a team with dynamic No. 1 option.

If the Raptors do choose to undergo a more comprehensive rebuilding effort, there is a case to be made that moving Siakam could net some helpful assets in order to pull off the process the right way.

However, the Portland Trail Blazers do not possess the type of assets that should entice the Trail Blazers into hitting the hard reset button. Lillard could be enticed into staying with the team if they made a move for a player of Siakam’s caliber.

Let’s say Lillard were to leave, the top 10 protections on those picks would make it even less worthwhile. The gamble a team would try to make for the Trail Blazers’ picks would be with the idea that Lillard were to leave and they could end up being potentially top picks, or close to it. The protections eliminate that option.

READ MORE: Predictions for NBA Trade Rumors: Simmons, Lillard, Hield, Ingles, Siakam

If the Raptors were to move Siakam, the headliner of the return being Anfernee Simons when the team already has Malachi Flynn and Fred VanVleet just doesn’t move the needle in a rebuilding effort.