Making the Case: Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors definitely should be looking to offload Pascal Siakam who’s a little too old and too talented to keep around as they build toward their next era. He’s also a little redundant with Scottie Barnes — their two-way rookie phenom — who’s also at his best acting as a point forward and attacking downhill.
The goal for when Toronto does trade Siakam is to acquire as much young talent or future draft capital as possible. While the fourth-overall pick will go a long way to bolstering the Raptors’ young core — after all they did acquire Barnes with the fourth selection in the 2021 NBA Draft — it could be argued that Toronto could find a much heftier package and easily, too.
Pascal Siakam is a legitimate All-NBA caliber talent. His services should easily command multiple first-round picks in return. While those picks might not land as high as fourth-overall, getting more than one shot in the crapshoot that is the NBA Draft is important when parting ways with a star.
Toronto also has no use for either Harrison Barnes or Justin Holiday, valuable veterans nearing the end of their primes. Of course, the Raptors could flip these players for more assets but neither of them is likely to bring back much in return. Both are slated for unrestricted free agency in 2023-24, so any team trading for them would potentially be moving for a one-year rental.
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In the end, the Raptors could probably find a much better deal for Pascal Siakam than this one. Unless a prospect they absolutely love falls to four, don’t count on seeing this trade go through.
