1 Hawks player Raptors must prioritize in Pascal Siakam trade talks

The Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks have found it hard to separate themselves from the absolute deluge of Pascal Siakam trade rumors in the last few weeks. Toronto has often been mentioned as a willing seller, and Atlanta has been tagged as a desperate wannabe contender.

With Siakam in the last year of his deal and unwilling to sign a long-term deal with anyone considering trading for him, the Raptors might find it hard to get back a player close to his level. The Hawks extending Dejounte Murray eliminates the possibility of him being aggregated in a preseason trade. As a result, talks have slowed down to a glacial pace.

If the Raptors and Hawks are going to be engaged on a potential Siakam deal, they need to ensure that the prized asset coming back is a young player who could emerge as a high-end producer this season and the next.

The only player the Raptors could acquire in a Siakam-Atlanta deal who could make a long-term impact on this rotation is former Michigan guard Kobe Bufkin. The Raptors should be willing to wait until he becomes available, assuming some small corner of the front office has their mind made up on trading Siakam.

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The Toronto Raptors must prioritize Kobe Bufkin in Pascal Siakam talks.

The Raptors were linked to Bufkin quite regularly through the pre-draft process, so much so that some fans were a bit surprised when the Raptors went for a shooting wing like Gradey Dick over a ball-handling guard like Bufkin and Keyonte George. His two-way skills and electric scoring skill stand out.

Bufkin profiles as a high-energy guard off the bench in his formative NBA years that eventually matures physically and becomes enough of a standout defensive player to move into a starting role. Think of him as a supercharged version of Dennis Schroder that could boost the Raptors with or without Siakam.

While he struggled in Summer League and was wildly up-and-down at Michigan, it’ll be hard to see how Bufkin will play a role on a Hawks team that already has a ton of money committed to both Murray and Trae Young. A package with Bufkin, a salary-matching veteran, and another young player like Onyeka Okongwu or Jalen Johnson might get the deal done.

Bufkin, Dick, and Scottie Barnes may not set the post-Siakam world on fire for the Raptors, but three Top 15 picks, in addition to multiple proven starters like Gary Trent Jr. and Jakob Poeltl, would give Toronto a very strong base.