3 reasons Raptors should trade Fred VanVleet, keep Gary Trent Jr.

1. Fit with Scottie Barnes

Every move the Raptors make in the next few years is going to be centered around how to get the most out of Barnes. With each passing week, Barnes is starting to show more flashes of the franchise pillar everyone hopes he will become.

While VanVleet and Barnes can work together, sending him elsewhere could be what allows Barnes to dominate the ball more and dig into his true potential. He’s had success directing the offense as a point center over the last few weeks, so why not lean into that?

Toronto Raptors: Gary Trent Jr. fits with Scottie Barnes.

While it remains to be seen if Barnes will ever be as good as Pascal Siakam, the two certainly share similar skillsets. Both of them have the passing chops needed to be the primary offensive ignitor, and Trent would help the Raptors’ offense more in a complementary role than VanVleet would.

Where Trent has the edge over VanVleet on the floor is the fact that he doesn’t need the ball in his hands to make an offensive impact. This will be Siakam and Barnes’ team, and trading away VanVleet could help rip the Band-Aid off and turn the page on that era of Raptors basketball.