The Toronto Raptors were given a gift from the basketball heavens when they jumped all the way up to No. 4 in the NBA Draft order. Even with that, they might come out of the draft in need of a center, which could prompt a trade for someone like Golden State Warriors center and former No. 2 pick James Wiseman to fill the void.
Wiseman only played three college games due to some NCAA red tape, but that didn’t stop him from getting billed as the center of the future in The Bay. Unfortunately, while he did have some nice offensive flashes, Wiseman was much too inconsistent for someone of his stature.
Wiseman tallied 11.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game while showing off a decent perimeter game, but his suspect interior defense was frequently targeted by the opposition, and Golden State wanting to potentially compete with Klay Thompson coming back has once again helped the rumor mill start up.
Should the Raptors throw their name into the Wiseman sweepstakes considering the value he could add? In a vacuum, he would make a ton of sense, but there might be too many hurdles to climb, the toughest being Warriors brass already coming out and admitting that they don’t foresee trading him.
Joe Lacob made it clear that trading James Wiseman this offseason is "very unlikely." https://t.co/UXptJbqxSl pic.twitter.com/43ouzqkmBR
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) June 21, 2021
How can Toronto Raptors potentially add James Wiseman?
The Warriors could easily go back on their desire to keep Wiseman if they are given an offer that they can’t refuse, but the Raptors don’t have enough assets to interest Golden State. Kyle Lowry would be almost impossible to trade due to the money he could command, and the Warriors would be morons if they gave up on Wiseman for maybe one or two years of Lowry.
Even if they did have the assets needed, Wiseman would likely start the year as the No. 4 option on offense, at best, behind a healthy Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and OG Anunoby. That is quite a price to pay for someone without a huge impact on the scoresheet.
Wiseman will be a double-double machine in the pros, but he wouldn’t give the Raptors as much immediate help on the defensive end as they need right now, and parting with a TON of draft capital to acquire him might not be very wise.
In the end, Wiseman might just be too expensive for the Raptors, as the only asset Golden State might be interested in acquiring would be the No. 4 pick, and it’s easy to see why the Raptors would be nervous about potentially surrendering that. There are many avenues with regards to upgrading at center, but Wiseman is too difficult to bring in.