3 ways Raptors have benefitted from the Kyle Lowry trade

1. Precious Achiuwa and Thad Young

The Raptors’ sign and trade with Miami brought Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa to Toronto. The former was flipped in a trade deadline deal that brought Thad Young to Canada, while the latter has quietly become one of the NBA’s most intense and interesting young forwards.

Young, who recently signed a multi-year contract with Toronto, played an incredibly valuable role on last year’s team, serving as the veteran glue guy who picked up a struggling bench. The real gem of this deal, however, was one of the best two-way young bigs in the league.

The Toronto Raptors struck gold with Thad Young and Precious Achiuwa.

Achiuwa, who scored 10 points and came alive in the second half of Toronto’s opening night win against the Cavaliers, has quickly established himself as the team’s Sixth Man and a future piece that Toronto wants to keep developing. Miami was barely giving him the time of day, but the Raptors have helped him blossom.

While the return sounded a bit sketchy at first glance, getting a young forward like Achiuwa and a veteran that was eventually turned into Young is quite a coup for Masai Ujiri. Unless Lowry gets back to the Hall of Fame form he exhibited so often in Toronto, the Heat may get the short end of that stick.