Trading Cory Joseph May Be For the Best
The Toronto Raptors will enter this summer with an extremely difficult cap situation to maneuver. Trading the only Canadian on their roster may be a difficult choice, but it is the most logical.
The Toronto Raptors will have a lot of questions entering this offseason with P.J. Tucker, Serge Ibaka, Patrick Patterson, and Kyle Lowry all potentially becoming free agents. Ideally. The Raptors would be able to maintain the roster as is, but that would be next to impossible with their current cap situation. To relieve some of that stress, a trade of Cory Joseph would be the most effective move. His contract and talent make him a desirable commodity for other teams.
The team is currently looking at a potential roster that costs more than $140 million. With the luxury tax supposedly set at $125 million, which would be an absurd cost for MLSE to undertake if the team does not make it out of the Eastern Conference. Joseph has the sixth highest contract on the team with $15.5M spread over two years. Saving that $7 million a year may not seem like much, but that is $7 million we can split amongst Ibaka, Lowry, and Tucker.
Depth Makes Him Expendable
Much like Terrence Ross at the deadline, Joseph is expendable because of the talent below him on the depth chart. Delon Wright and Fred VanVleet both seem to have solid NBA futures and realistically could slide into his spot next year. Over the past few games, Wright has flashed signs of becoming a very talented point guard and possibly a defensive stopper in a few years. A trade of Joseph would allow the youngsters more opportunities to grow and prove their worth, while not creating a hole in the roster.
The Ideal Raptor Trade Piece
Ideally, Joseph wouldn’t be the one who would have to be “sacrificed” but we can’t necessarily trade anyone else. Personally, I have been a critic of DeMarre Carroll for a long time, and would have leapt at an opportunity to trade him. As it is, the roster is already fairly thin on the wings, so a trade of Carroll would just create more problems. Another issue is that it is doubtful that another team would be willing to take on his contract without us having to give up multiple draft picks too.
Joseph on the other hand would be a valuable player on multiple NBA teams. He’s still a significant contributor on an Eastern Conference Finals team. If we were to trade Joseph, not only would we be giving ourselves a little salary freedom, but we might receive a late first round pick out of it too. Masai Ujiri has a habit of making the most out of late round picks (Delon Wright, Pascal Siakam with Toronto, and Evan Fournier and Kenneth Faried with the Denver Nuggets).
If we were to trade Cory, we wouldn’t necessarily be forced to take back a significant contract. There are many teams at all different levels throughout the league in search of a point guard (Philadelphia, New York, and even possibly San Antonio), and Joseph would certainly suit their desires. In an NBA world where salary dumps are common, the Raptors could trade Joseph for a set of future picks. Obviously that isn’t exactly his value, but it gives us space to maneuver.
Losing Joseph is Not The Perfect Answer
There are a couple drawbacks to trading Joseph though, as there would be with anyone else. He’s proven time and time again that he has the talent to fill in for Lowry whenever needed. Wright and VanVleet are still a fairly inconsistent.
Joseph is also probably the best Canadian to ever don the Raptors uniform and it would put a little tear in my eye to see him go. It is a sentimental reason for not wanting him to leave, but it is a reason nonetheless. Beyond that, he is a great team player and is the only player on the roster with a championship ring. Trading only him wouldn’t completely free us from our salary cap problems either.
It’s a tough situation that no one wants to be in, but this trade is just a small relief to the team. In my opinion, keeping our four free-agents-to-be is more important than Cory Joseph. Ibaka and Tucker have revamped the team’s defense in their short time here. Patterson has been doing all the little things for the past four years and his impact is greatly underrated. Finally, Lowry is arguably one of the top three Raptors of all time. It pains me to say this, but the Raptors should trade Corey Joseph to help us retain the others.
Should the Raptors trade Joseph or find some other way to relieve their cap situation? What do you suggest? I know this will be controversial so let me know what you think in the comments!