3 Toronto Raptors players who are as good as gone this summer

No. 2: Bruce Brown

The Toronto Raptors agreed to a package coming back for Pascal Siakam that included a trio of first-round picks and, primarily, Bruce Brown as the matching salary. Brown won a title as the Sixth Man on the Denver Nuggets last season and signed a large contract this summer with the Indiana Pacers.

Brown's skillset would be very useful on a Raptors team trying to win, a rugged defender who can take on multiple positions and a playmaking finisher on offense who can hit an open 3-pointer. The reason he won't be coming back is twofold: he has played terribly since arriving in Toronto, and his contract is extremely expensive next season.

Rather than accept a lower salary on a longer contract last summer, Bruce Brown accepted a short-term, two-year contract with a team option on the second year; in return, a player expected to get around $15 million last summer averaged $22.5 million on his deal.

If Brown had played at the same level as he did in Denver, a winning team could justify paying that much for Brown. It's possible that one still does and the Raptors trade him on the $23 million number this offseason. At this point, it's probably more likely that they decline the team option and let him walk in free agency. Whether by trade or by wave(ing goodbye) he seems gone.