Toronto Raptors: 5 most interesting trade deadline deals in Raptors history
By Jason Mills
Raptors deadline deal No. 4: Jonas Valanciunas, 2009
The majority of the past seven seasons of success that the Raptors have enjoyed can largely be credited to three players. Those players are Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and Jonas Valanciunas. The acquisition of Valanciunas was an unknown piece to the team’s success when the asset was obtained in a 2009 deal orchestrated by general manager Bryan Colangelo.
The Raptors in 2008 had sent draft pick Roy Hibbert and the 41st pick, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston, and T.J Ford, to the Indiana Pacers to acquire Jermaine O’Neal who was struggling with knee injuries in the off-season. It was a deal that really didn’t work out.
O’Neal would play just 41 games in a Raptors’ uniform averaging 13.5 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists per game. However, when last healthy in the 2006/07 season, O’Neal was averaging 19.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks a game.
Jermaine O’Neal help the Raptors get Jonas Valanciunas
He was once an All-Star with franchise-changing talent, but not when the Raptors’ acquired him. So Colangelo swung another deal trying to get the team into the playoffs. O’Neal would be sent to the Miami Heat along with Jamario Moon for Marcus Banks, Shawn Marion, and a future first-round draft pick in 2011 before the 2009 trade deadline.
That pick would turn out to be Valanciunas, selected fifth overall in 2011. Toronto would wait another season to determine what they had drafted, and the wait was worth it. Reporting to the Raptors in 2012, Valanciunas became a near double-double performer playing center for Toronto.
His best season in Toronto was perhaps his last for the Raptors as he was averaging 15.6 points and 8.6 rebounds in 49 games platooning with Serge Ibaka right before he got traded.
He was a key performer in a Raptors’ uniform, playing a significant role in the team’s playoff successes from 2013-2018. Valanciunas would play in 43 playoff games for Toronto, averaging 12.7 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.
He was a Toronto roster member for the first half of the 2018/19 season that won the 2019 NBA Final. He was not awarded a ring for his services during his first six and a half seasons up until a February 2019 deal that sent Delon Wright, C.J. Miles, and Valanciunas to Memphis for Marc Gasol, who replaced him for the final 26 games of the regular season in 2018/19.