3 Raptors trade targets who will fix the lack of 3-point shooting
By Mike Luciano
The Toronto Raptors need to fix their 3-point shooting in the offseason, as the playoffs showed how top-heavy their skill in this area is. When Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. don’t catch fire, Nick Nurse and the squad found it challenging to keep pace with the rest of the contenders in the East.
Toronto will feel out the trade market to make some significant changes to their roster in the offseason. While the Raptors may need to keep their feet on the ground when it comes to looking at trade targets, Masai Ujiri has never been one to turn down a trade for a future starter if the price is right.
The Raptors need to poach shooters who can hold their own on the defensive end to step up in the NBA order next year. Even with Precious Achiuwa stepping up late in the season, one more shooter could turn Toronto into a spacing nightmare that makes it easier to get to the rim.
These three players could all be on the move, considering how the winds of change are blowing around their respective organizations. These three could be swept up and brought to Toronto, as they could turn the Raptors from an offensively deficient team on the perimeter to a collection of quality long-range snipers.
3 Toronto Raptors trade targets that could be solid shooters.
3. Kelly Oubre Jr, Charlotte Hornets
Oubre is one of those players who aren’t good enough to be a legitimate star on a title team yet continues to work on quality squads due to his ability to get buckets. A hypothetical trade to Toronto would send Oubre to his fifth team since 2018, but he has averaged 15.9 points per game on 44/33/74 shooting splits in that span.
Oubre averaged 15.0 points per game with the Hornets as the Sixth Man in James Borrego’s high-octane offense. Given how he’s already proven to have been an effective shooter off of the bench, letting Oubre be the top scorer on a depleted Raptors secondary unit might be the best way to kick that group in the butt.
Kelly Oubre Jr. could be a Sixth Man for the Toronto Raptors.
Oubre will never be an All-Defensive player in the league, but he is pesky enough on the perimeter to fit in with a Raptors team that mandates quality play from their wing players. A few months in the Nurse boot camp could take his defensive skill from good to great in the Gary Trent Jr. mold.
With just one year left on his contract, Oubre should be able to be brought in without forking over large chunks of the future. With Oubre in place of Svi Mykhailiuk in the rotation, Toronto should avoid some of those early second-quarter lulls that VanVleet and Pascal Siakam needed to erase.