Pros and cons of pursuing 3 young Toronto Raptors trade targets

The Toronto Raptors are always going to look at the trade market in an attempt to find players that can help get this organization in a better position when the postseason comes around. While many of their injured stars are set to return relatively soon, there’s no such thing as too much depth in this league.

While the Raptors were able to beat the Pistons and Heat before taking a beat-up Hawks team to overtime, Toronto would probably like to have more experienced, high-ceiling reserves are getting playoff minutes while veteran dead weight gets jettisoned.

Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster showed via the Thad Young trade last year that they are more than willing to trade away a first-round pick if they get the right veteran back in the fold as compensation. The Raptors may be willing to get some interesting deals done this time around.

Ujiri will likely prioritize adding young players that can help this team this year and in the future. While adding any one of those three players would be an interesting move that could end up as a great success, they all have pitfalls associated with them that make it tough to be fully sold on them.

Toronto Raptors trade rumors: Pros and Cons of 3 young targets

3. Kenyon Martin Jr, Houston Rockets

Pros

Amid more losing from Houston, the third-year wing has been targeted by Phoenix. Given his 11.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting 52.5% from the field for his career, Martin has shown that he can finish at the rim while being an effective perimeter defender.

Martin has verticality that helps him attack the rim with uncommon ferocity, and he’s made 35% of his 3-pointers. The fact that Martin has been effective despite playing with so many rookies and offensively deficient players could make an optimistic front office believe that he will be even more effective with better structure around him.

Cons

Martin is going to get more shots in Houston than he will in Toronto, so the odds of him being a double-digit scorer in Canada are unlikely. The Rockets will likely want multiple picks for Martin in addition to a player that makes the salaries match up, which will be hard for Ujiri to agree on.

Martin will come cheap for this year, and he has a club option that will almost certainly be picked up. However, the Raptors need to be very reserved in how they spend money with so many big contracts coming up. Given how Martin is a bit of an unknown at this point, he could just be a one-year rental.