3 Raptors Masai Ujiri must trade immediately to kick-start rebuild
By Mike Luciano
The Toronto Raptors set themselves up nicely for the Scottie Barnes-led future, netting RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and three first-round picks in the Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby trades. However, Masai Ujiri is kidding himself if he thinks this roster should be set in stone.
Toronto's brutal blowout loss against Fred VanVleet and the Houston Rockets shows the issues with the general vibes in the locker room. Everyone is clearly either on edge or giving half effort due to the knowledge many of the players on this roster won't be on the team in about a week.
The players left on the roster openly admitted that the constant trade rumors surrounding Siakam and Anunoby fractured the locker room, as they never knew when the trade would actually go down. In order to get rid of some of the veterans and give this team more new blood, Ujiri needs to start wheeling and dealing as soon as possible.
The Raptors need to leave the trade deadline with this trio of players suiting up somewhere else. Failure to accomplish that goal would leave Toronto saddled with disgruntled veterans who are playing on a bad team that is openly trying to let the young guys run wild, a future that helps as few people as possible.
3 veterans the Toronto Raptors must trade immediately
3. Chris Boucher
Boucher did not get any minutes against Houston despite playing against one of the best big men in the game in Alperen Sengun with Jakob Poeltl on a minutes restriction and Jontay Porter injured. Boucher's time in Toronto seems to be up, and teams around the league will need to get in on the sweepstakes ASAP.
Boucher's numbers are declining, and he is on the wrong side of 30. Getting outplayed by two-way players (Porter) aging veterans (Thad Young) isn't a good sign, but even his limited action this season showed enough for some team out there to flip some sort of draft capital over to Toronto.
Chris Boucher could be traded by the Toronto Raptors.
The Celtics have reportedly been eyeing Boucher for some time, and the West has so many frontcourt injuries that one of their top teams wouldn't be ridiculed if they rolled the dice on Boucher for what seems like a very reasonable price. Ujiri seems willing to look past the 2019 nostalgia lately.
Trading Boucher would officially be the final nail in the coffin for the lone Raptors team in franchise history to win a championship, but the time is right for a facelift. Toronto might need to take off the nostalgia glasses, as Boucher can still get something of value in a trade.