3 trade deadline moves Jakob Poeltl has clearly outperformed

The Toronto Raptors were met with a wave of quizzical looks when they traded away multiple draft picks, including a very lightly protected first-round pick, to re-acquire big man Jakob Poeltl. While he would help fix the team’s lack of rim protection, he would do nothing to repair the team’s lackluster 3-point percentage.

After a month and change with his new club, Poeltl has proved the doubters incredibly wrong. Not only is he averaging 1.6 blocks and 1.4 steals per game on the defensive end, but his 15.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game on the offensive end prove that his efficient interior finishing is just what the doctor ordered for this team.

The Raptors’ starting lineup with Poeltl in the fold has proven to be one of the most effective units in the game. Masai Ujiri’s plan to run it back with largely the same roster while preaching patience may be flawed, but Poeltl performing like this might make it an easier sell for this fanbase.

The fact that Poeltl has been performing so well has helped make this trade deadline yet another notch in Ujiri’s victory column. Considering how many other trade deadline moves have fizzled out in a somewhat disheartening fashion, Toronto should feel like bandits after making off with Poeltl.

Toronto Raptors: 3 trade deadline deals Jakob Poeltl is outperforming.

3. Josh Richardson, New Orleans Pelicans

The Pelicans were hot on OG Anunoby’s tail in the deadline frenzy, but they ultimately ended up flipping Devonte’ Graham to the Spurs in exchange for a much less expensive bench piece in Richardson. You get what you pay for (most of the time) in this league, and the Pelicans haven’t seen their championship odds improve as a result.

Richardson’s scoring has dipped from 11.5 points per game with San Antonio to 9.0 with New Orleans, all while putting up a 40% efficiency rate that would be his worst in an individual season since 2016-17. The Pelicans have fallen out of the playoff picture and right back into the uncertainness of the lottery.

Toronto Raptors: Jakob Poeltl has been better than Josh Richardson

Richardson is not going to be a game-changing defender in the way that Poeltl has been, which is why New Orleans has seen their championship prospects fade away. For a team sitting on a king’s ransom of first-round picks thanks to the Anthony Davis trade, this passiveness may have cost him.

Some may balk at the price that Poeltl cost the Raptors, but that is the cost of doing business in a market that is so inflated that no player of any tangible value is going to be traded without multiple prized assets changing hands. Richardson on the Raptors would not have moved the needle in the way Poeltl did.