Toronto Raptors: Trade Value Rankings on Deadline Day

5. Norman Powell

The situation with Powell has been well documented – a well-timed surge in performance in recent months, rendering his $11.6 million player option for 2021-22 all but irrelevant. Powell’s breakout also comes at a time when the club is in decline, leaving them considerably less likely to pay up to lock in on a group that, as of now, isn’t delivering.

Powell’s relatively sudden emergence as a trade chip leaves his value uncertain. On one hand, teams will surely be leery of coughing up significant assets for a player poised to cash in with a fairly small sample size as an elite scorer. On the other hand, 28-year-old players with a championship pedigree averaging nearly 20 points on 49.8% shooting aren’t widely available.

4. Kyle Lowry

In case you haven’t heard, the greatest Raptor of all-time might have played his last game for the franchise. In spite of a large $30 million salary and advanced age (Happy 35th Birthday, Kyle!), Lowry remains in demand as a high character leader, two-way player and clutch performer. The tributes have already started in anticipation of a trade, with the writing clearly on the wall.

At this point, it seems less a question of ‘will Lowry get traded?’ so much as ‘where?’ and ‘what can Toronto get back?’.

Will the Raptors trade Kyle Lowry?

Unless a surprise third team can piece together the necessary cap space and future assets to make a deal work, it appears as though Philadelphia or Miami may land him for the playoff run. Emotions aside, a Lowry trade would clearly jump-start the rebuild process, hopefully providing the Raptors with some combination of picks and young talent to officially turn the page on their golden era.

3. Pascal Siakam

Everything seemed hunky dory in Raptors land during Wednesday night’s win over Denver, a far cry from the fireworks that followed Monday’s embarrassing blowout loss to the Rockets as Pascal Siakam reportedly erupted into an angry, expletive-filled rant directed towards Nurse.

While there are surely some lingering feelings stemming from the locker room outburst, Siakam remains – as far as we know – an integral piece of the organization moving forward.

That’s good, because if Toronto was to pursue a trade of their soon-to-be 27-year-old franchise player, it’s unlikely they’d get full value on his return. Quite simply, Siakam has not yet lived up to the four-year, $130 million max extension he signed post-championship.

For all the encouraging outings, the Cameroon native has also suffered through slow starts to the season, prolonged slumps and a pretty terrible 2020 postseason. Assuming he sticks around, the scrutiny will only grow as his cap hit rises and his talented supporting cast continues to fly the coop.

2. Fred VanVleet

VanVleet continues to deliver on his four-year, $85 million “bet on yourself” deal, even as the team around him has failed to live up to expectations. To be clear, the undrafted free agent isn’t going anywhere – he will surely take the reins of the club and serve as a more than suitable replacement as heart and soul of the franchise once Lowry moves on.

But since we are talking trade value here, VanVleet’s is considerable. Though probably a shade under true star status, he can easily be one of the two or three best players on a title contender (remember, he got the only non-Kawhi Finals MVP vote in 2019).

At roughly $20 million per season over the next three years, he will only be 30 when it expires, so he should offer peak performance across the lifespan of what looks like a very reasonable deal.

1. OG Anunoby

You’ll notice that I didn’t create any section for ‘untouchable’ trade assets from the Raptors. If we’re being honest, I don’t think Ujiri and Webster would be so quick to take anyone off the table for the right offer. Take Anunoby, for instance.

Although he is a 23-year-old who has already proven himself as an elite NBA defender, the forward still hasn’t established himself as more than a secondary offensive option. Sure, that has considerable value in and of itself, but doesn’t necessarily raise the Indiana Hoosiers alum to superstar status.

Like VanVleet, the Raptors surely aren’t looking to ship Anunoby out. But they’ve also had four years to watch him develop, and while his growth as a shooter (37.1% to 41% from three), scorer (5.9 points to 14.3), and defender have been impressive, club management probably feels like they have a good handle on the type of player he is by now.

That said, if you want him, be prepared to pay up in a big way.