What does the Thad Young trade means for the Raptors rotation?

It finally happened. The minute Goran Dragic said he had higher ambitions than playing for the Toronto Raptors, he essentially signed a trade demand without putting pen to paper. Dragic and the Mavericks had been looking at each other for months, but he was eventually dealt to the San Antonio Spurs in a trade that brought Thad Young to Toronto.

Those who’ve enjoyed watching Masai Ujiri’s wizardry every NBA Draft may be disappointed the Raptors moved off their first-round pick. Coming off a draft where Masai seemingly plucked a future All-Star and two rotation players out of thin air, draft F.O.M.O. is reasonable among Raptors fans.

However, note the direction of the team right now. All of a sudden, the Raptors are moving their sights from the play-in seed range to the Eastern Conference’s middle tier. If all continues to go as planned, Toronto’s first-round pick will likely fall somewhere in the early 20s.

The difference between a late first and San Antonio’s early 2nd round pick acquired from Detroit isn’t as wide a gap as face value might suggest.

The bigger benefit for the Raptors is adding a player like Young that will be an immediate offensive contributor off of the bench and veteran leader. How will he mesh with this young, versatile frontcourt?

How will Thad Young impact the Toronto Raptors’ rotation?

Fans were hoping for a rim protector. Perhaps something along the lines of Myles Turner or a Jakob Poeltl. Instead, Toronto added another 6-8 power forward.

While there is some positional overlap with these new additions, and the Raptors already have a strong frontcourt rotation of Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes, Precious Achiuwa, and Chris Boucher, Young can still help the Raptors as they jockey for playoff positioning.

Young has been one of the NBA’s best-kept secrets for a long time. Drafted as a teenager back in 2007, Young has averaged 13.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game from 2009 to 2021. Combine that with strong, versatile defense and you’ve got a dynamic two-way player.

Young won’t be knocking Pascal, Scottie, or OG Anuoby out of the starting five any time soon, but he will allow for some more experience and production from the bench. Able to pass out of the high-post and guard positions 3-5, Young will likely join a backup frontcourt of Achiuwa and Boucher and operate as a secondary playmaker for that unit.

The Raptors have been near the bottom of the league in bench scoring this year, and while we all love names like Dalano Banton and Yuta Watanabe, they aren’t the best at creating shots for themselves or others. They finish plays, but they don’t start them.

A backup point guard would have been ideal to run the bench’s offense, but Young’s skill and veteran savvy will certainly help in this regard. He’s not a point guard, but he can create more scoring opportunities than any non-starter on the roster.

Unless either Watanabe or Khem Birch learns to become a deadeye from three, they’re likely going to see third-line minutes from now on.

Thad Young doesn’t carry a ton of risk for the Toronto Raptors.

Let’s also keep in mind that while Young may not plug the roster holes perfectly, he does a lot in terms of veteran leadership and big come competence. What’s more, Masai Ujiri gave up very little to get him in the building. It’s not like Dragic was helping anything sitting out every game.

Young is a no-risk, medium-reward acquisition. His $14,000,000 contract expires at the end of this season, and team management will have plenty of flexibility to either resign him to a more team-friendly deal or explore alternative free agents. Toronto now has his Bird rights.

That last bit is important to keep in mind. Both Boucher and Young’s contracts leave the team with around $20,000,000 in salary to throw at some really interesting free agents.

When it comes to Masai, it’s often the baby steps that accumulate into a flawlessly constructed roster. This seemingly lateral move is just another example of Ujiri taking things slow, steady, and strong.

Expect plenty of crunching defense, playmaking, and finishing inside off a bench in need of all three of those traits.