Toronto Raptors: Should the Raptors trade Norman Powell to create more cap space in 2021?

Back in 2017, Toronto Raptors shooting guard Norman Powell signed a four-year $ 42 million contract extension with a player option in the final year of his deal. He can opt-out from his deal and signed a new deal during the 2021 NBA free agency.

Some NBA teams, including the Toronto Raptors, will have the chance to sign a superstar free agent during the 2021 NBA free agency.

Top players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kawhi Leonard, Lebron James, Paul George, Victor Oladipo, DeMar DeRozan, and Andre Drummond will all be available next summer to sign with any team they want. And the teams who want these superstar players will have the cap to sign them.

There will be one player in particular who will be the headline act of this free agency class due to the teams like the Raptors saving their money to sign him.

That player is none other than Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Raptors along with the New York Knicks, the Dallas Mavericks, the Miami Heat, and the 2019-20 NBA champions the Los Angeles Lakers are rumored to pursued Antetokounmpo away from his current team, the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bucks can offer him a contract extension within the next few weeks, but it is most likely that he declines the offer.

Assuming that Antetokounmpo doesn’t re-sign with the Bucks, the Raptors will have around $ 33 million in cap space to sign him.

But due to Antetokounmpo’s value being around $ 33 million, Toronto will have to use all their remaining cap space to sign him. This means that including Antetokounmpo, the Raptors would theoretically have six players under contract and will have to go over the cap to sign the remaining nine players to have a team.

It is not ideal for the Raptors to go over the cap because they would have to pay the luxury tax. They must also decide on whether to extend OG Anunoby’s contract or not because his contract could affect the cap space significantly depending on the amount of money he gets.