3 most likely Raptors players to be traded at the 2022 deadline
By Mike Luciano
The Toronto Raptors have done well to earn the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference after 51 games, but they still should be an active buyer at the trade deadline. It’s clear that this team will need to shake their roster around in order to fight off some of the contenders for one of the play-in spots.
The Raptors lack bench shooting to the point where they rank at the bottom of the league. They need a center that can block shots and a backup point guard that can provide more scoring than Dalano Banton at this moment in time. Masai Ujiri knows that this roster is incomplete.
Toronto might not be gushing with assets that could allow them to swing for the fences at the deadline, but they have a couple of bench players that could be used to sweeten a potential trade or entice a rebuilding team into parting with one of their role players.
It’s not guaranteed that these 3 Toronto Raptors players will be on the team when February 11 rolls around. Ujiri is not above exploring all sorts of unusual trade avenues at the deadline, and that desire to get a deal done might bring an end to these three Raptors careers.
3. Svi Mykhailiuk
Mykhailiuk started the season off in fantastic style, as he built upon a strong preseason by emerging as a quality bench gunner that occasionally started. Over the last few weeks, however, the Ukrainian wing has been so poor that Nick Nurse has removed him from the rotation completely.
Mykhailiuk, who can opt into a $1.8 million player option next season, might need more time on the floor to get into a groove. While a Toronto team that is moving forward with a truncated rotation for the rest of the season might not provide that opportunity, a team that trades for him might be more willing.
Svi Mykhailiuk hasn’t given the Toronto Raptors a ton of value.
Mykhailiuk showed with Detroit and Oklahoma City that he can be a solid shooter and scorer if given enough minutes. Sometimes, players and teams just don’t work out from a fit perspective, and that might be what is causing Mykhailiuk’s issues with consistency in Toronto.
Ujiri could sell teams on the notion that they are adding a solid scorer that can take it to the rack if needed. While nowhere near enticing enough to be the centerpiece of even a very basic deal, he could be a nice little sweetener thrown into a deal that gets Toronto further away from the luxury tax.