Toronto Raptors: 5 positive takeaways from the 2020-21 Season

2. Winning the Norman Powell trade

Yet another diabolical victory by Ujiri. The trade deadline was fast approaching, and with every game in which Powell put up 20+, you could almost hear the maniacal laughter coming from Ujiri’s office.

At a first glance, it looks like business 101. Sell high on a player who was having the season of his life, during a time where such things didn’t mean much for the franchise.

Powell’s 2021 numbers with the Raptors were good enough to attract the eye of several contending teams, but they were never going to lead the Raptors themselves to anything more than an 8th seed.

Let’s recap the actual trade:

The Trail Blazers, searching for any way to maximize Damian Lillard’s prime years, traded away a 22-year-old averaging 15+ points per game for a 27-year-old with an expiring contract. For Masai, it was like trading in the 2021 Subaru Crosstrek for the 2026 model. It fits the team’s timeline better, and it’ll probably be a better car.

One could argue that the Blazers got the best player in the trade, and they’d be correct. Trading away a piece of their future for a better basketball player in the here and now is what contending teams do.  Though the acquisition of Powell hasn’t been as beneficial in the short term as the Blazers thought.

Since going to the Blazers, Norm’s 19.6 PPG in 30 minutes has dropped to 17.1 in 34. His FG% has gone from 50% to 44%, but the most shocking has been his dip in 3-point efficiency. Dropping from a scorching 44% in Toronto to a sub-par 35% in Portland.

Gary Trent Jr. is playing better than Norman Powell.

Meanwhile, Gary Trent Jr. has been a smashing success with the Raptors.  Despite some nagging injuries, and being pulled in and out of the starting lineup, Trent has enjoyed a slight uptick in almost every single stat across the board.

The raw box score may not look so impressive from far away, but that’s mostly due to the constant shift in how Trent is deployed. Lowry and VanVleet are still the team’s starting backcourt, and between the nagging injuries and the fact that Raptors might be quietly trying to lose games, Gary Trent’s numbers have been toned down by his off-nights.

Mostly, Trent has been able to be what Powell was before he got moved.  A solid wing defender and spark plug scorer without dominating the ball. The kind of thing Klay Thompson built a career on. At 22, Trent is nearly as good as Powell is already and he’s only going to get better.

The moral of this story?  Never ever make a trade with Masai Ujiri.