5 Buy-low centers the Raptors can trade for to back up Jakob Poeltl

The Toronto Raptors have a few glaring needs on their roster.

Their core four are all above average at their positions, which is one of the reasons they look like a team ready to take a big step forward next year. The fifth starting slot could go to a number of shooting guards -- the Raptors have seven of them, after all. They also used the second day of the draft to address their point-of-attack defense, a major weakness a season ago.

The one place they did not commit resources was at backup center. Kelly Olynyk is likely going to spend time there, perhaps playing alongside Scottie Barnes. Yet he offers no defensive resistance at all, and if Jakob Poeltl misses time there is a yawning void behind him. The Raptors have a pair of rookie centers, one the 57th pick and the other undrafted, and journeyman big Bruno Fernando on a non-guaranteed deal heading into training camp.

That approach could be fine; give the Olynyk-Barnes frontcourt a try, let Ulrich Chomche and Branden Carlson get their feet wet, and see what shakes out. That is fine if the Raptors aren't trying to win games next season, but right now it seems like their goal is to be competitive. If so, they could use a more proven backup center.

Should the Raptors find a better backup center?

Picking up such a player also opens up possibilities for them to move on from Poeltl in a trade, such as this one we recently discussed that would send him to New York. Otherwise, trading Poeltl turns a weakness into a disaster.

With that in mind, who could the Raptors target via trade to shore up the position? The goal would be to find a player on an inexpensive contract whose value is diminished in some way and buy low, either to get a solid backup alone or to rehabilitate their value to flip them to another team.

Let's look at five candidates for a trade, players whose profile is not so large that they would have to start, but not so low that they wouldn't be a clear upgrade for the Raptors' roster. We'll look at a couple of veteran options as well as a couple of younger players to be groomed behind Poeltl.