Toronto Raptors: Is Victor Oladipo a better long-term play than Norman Powell?

Norman Powell had a career year with the Toronto Raptors, he is currently averaging 19.6 points per game, 3.0 rebounds per game, and 1.8 assists per game. Powell became a key player for the Raptors, but they decided to trade him to the Portland Trail Blazers. On a day where stars like Nikola Vucevic and Victor Oladipo got trades, Powell’s move set off alarm bells.

Powell had an $11 million player option for next season, but the recent trade has taken that decision completely off of Toronto’s hands. With a cheaper alternative in Gary Trent Jr. in the building, Toronto has the cap space to chase a star like Oladipo.

Oladipo might be a better player than Powell due to his two-way value, but his stock has taken a nosedive since his trade to the Houston Rockets, who ultimately flipped him to the Miami Heat. The Raptors will have cap space, and Oladipo could hit free agency. Match made in heaven, right?

With Powell gone, Oladipo is a great replacement. But who should get first priority for the Raptors or any other team looking to snatch them up as free agents, Powell or Oladipo?

Is Victor Oladipo much better than former Toronto Raptors star Norman Powell?

Even though Powell is having his best year in his career so far, Oladipo has the better stats. He is currently averaging 20.8 points per game, 5.1 rebounds per game, and 4.7 assists per game. Oladipo has been playing with two teams this season.

He started the season with the Indiana Pacers. He had similar numbers with the nine games he played there to his overall numbers this season. Then on Jan. 14, he was traded to the Houston Rocket as part of the James Harden trade.

As a Rocket, Oladipo is averaging 21.2 points per game, 4.8 rebounds per game, and 5.0 assists per game with the Rockets.  He could also get traded again because he’s a free agent in the summer and both Oladipo and the Rockets could not agree to a contract extension.

Despite Oladipo having better stats than Powell, Powell has been more important to his respective team than Oladipo. The offensive rating for the Raptors is 113.4 whenever Powell is on the court. And whenever he is off the court, the offensive rating is 111.6.

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Compared to the Rockets’ offensive rating of 103.7 when Oladipo is on the court and the 107.4 rating whenever he is off the court, Powell is helping his team more especially when the plus/minus is -3.7.

If you want someone who has a better career, then there is no question that Oladipo had a better career than Powell so far.

Oladipo is a two-time All-Star. He won the 2018 NBA Most Improved Player award. While Powell, has been a consistent impact player, he doesn’t have a ton of individual accolades.

Some teams also look at age and how young a player is when they want a player who has been in the league for a while. At 27 and 28 for both Powell and Oladipo, respectively, this might not come into play.

Who can be more dependable for the Toronto Raptors, Oladipo or Powell?

One of the most important, if not the most important aspect of a player is that they should be healthy for most of their career. Both players have been injury-prone throughout their careers. Powell missed some time this season due to a quad injury.

And Oladipo missed six games this season due to a quad and a foot injury. He also came back from his torn quad injury that he suffered two years ago. Since he came back from injury, he has not really been the player he was three years ago.

While Powell’s injuries did not cause his game to decrease. In fact, it just made him better. He had a slow start this. However, once he came back from his quad injury, he started to play great again. The same thing happened last year.

With all that said, prospective teams should prioritize keeping Powell over signing Oladipo even though Oladipo has the better resume. Powell is younger, playing more efficiently, and is more dependable than Oladipo.

Considering he can be had at a cheaper price, this is a win-win.