Toronto Raptors: Pros and cons of an OG Anunoby trade

The Toronto Raptors have been a superb team when it comes to drafting since the Masai Ujiri tenure began in 2013. One of those draft gems is OG Anunoby, who has seen his numbers rise steadily every season. Anunoby’s improving offense, paired with his elite defense, makes him a valuable piece to the Raptors.

Ujiri would be foolish to trade the 24-year-old, right?

According to Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer (who nailed the Raptors’ pre-draft interest in Scottie Barnes), rival executives interested in acquiring him believe that Anunoby became dissatisfied with his role this season. No official trade request has been made, and Barnes tried his best to shut the rumors down.

Keeping the starting five together always felt like an uphill battle financially, which has led to debates about trading Gary Trent Jr. or another critical contributor. However, Anunoby always appeared to be a lock to stay in Toronto long-term. Could things change this offseason?

It will take a king’s ransom for Ujiri to move off of young, homegrown talent like Anunoby. There’s a greater possibility that this is all just smoke, and nothing ends up coming out of this. However, it’s worth looking at some potential positives and negatives if an Anunoby trade comes to fruition.

Pros and cons of Toronto Raptors trading OG Anunoby.

Pros

If a team is willing to match Anunoby’s trade value, which is seen as more than two first-round picks according to Fischer, Toronto may just have to pull the trigger. Doing so could be one way to replenish the bench and bring in several talented young players on cheap contracts.

With the team’s drafting history, adding multiple draft picks and the chance to throw more darts at prospects could help replenish the depth chart. Perhaps this move could give them the ammunition to trade for the superstar big they’ve been desperately seeking. Maybe a move up in the draft could come as a result of this.

A trade could help several other Raptors players.

Trading Anunoby would likely slide Barnes to small forward and Pascal Siakam to his natural power forward position, where we could see him thrive even more. Precious Achiuwa could see an acceleration in his development by potentially moving into the starting lineup.

Barnes was phenomenal in his rookie season, but there were games where he became stagnant on offense because of the lack of shots and touches. Removing Anunoby would likely see Barnes get a sufficient amount of touches that could see him breakout even more in his sophomore season.