Grade the Trade: Marcus Smart, Brandon Ingram on the move as Raptors join 4-team idea

Laying out a 4-team trade

The Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks are all teams hoping to contend this season. With dynamic stars, veteran supporting casts and intriguing depth, each can make a case for being a home-court advantage team in their respective conferences.

The Grizzlies have a major weakness, however, in that they don't have any small forwards on the roster that they can trust. The Pelicans, on the other hand, have a glut of forwards and have been trying to trade one for an above-average starter at center. Enter the Raptors, who have a starting center in Jakob Poeltl they could conceivably trade.

Yet for the Grizzlies to match the salary of Brandon ingram, the player they are targeting in this deal, they need to include Marcus Smart, but the Raptors don't want to take on his contract as an aging win-now veteran guard. That pulls in a fourth team, the Milwaukee Bucks, who flip their bench depth for a player in Smart who meets their backcourt defensive need.

Here are the details for the trade according to Fanspo:

Breaking out just the Raptors' place in the deal:

The Pelicans make this trade to turn a weakness into a strength, moving on from Brandon Ingram and adding a pair of proven big men in Jakob Poeltl and Bobby Portis. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, undo a rough trade from last summer in sending Marcus Smart on his way; they have a ready-made replacement in Vince Williams Jr. and now get the starting small forward they have been searching for in Brandon Ingram.

The MIlwaukee Bucks land Smart in a trade reminiscent of their deal to add Jrue Holiday years ago that propelled them to a title; Smart is unlikely to bring that level of impact, but he absolutely meets a need in the backcourt for the Bucks.

If all three other teams can get on board, what do the Toronto Raptors do with this trade offer? Is this a trade that meets their needs?