Grade the Trade pitch: Raptors land All-Star from West favorite in 3-team blockbuster

Would the Raptors make this trade?

The Toronto Raptors are currently building a middle-of-the-road team.

Scottie Barnes' upside could be that of a Top 10 player, but he doesnt look like an unstoppable offensive powerhouse. Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett are really good, not great, offensive players. On the flip side, Jakob Poeltl is a defensive anchor who has limited offensive impact.

That's an oversimplification, but the Raptors' upside with this core looks like a unit ranked between 10 and 15 on both sides of the ball; a likely playoff team, but not a contender. How do they push their future forward? Perhaps by swinging for the fences.

Karl-Anthony Towns is one of the greatest shooting bigs in the history of the NBA. Last season he shot 41.6 percent from 3-point range on 5.3 attempts per game, and was 87.3 percent from the free-throw line. His gravity would crack open opposing defenses unable to stop all four of the Raptors' offensive engines.

On the other hand, the team's defense would be extremely suspect. Not having a rim protector on the back line was a disaster last season when Jakob Poeltl was out of the lineup; Towns is more physical than Kelly Olynyk and Chris Boucher but he is not much of a deterrent. The Raptors would almost certainly have a bottom-10 defense, both next year and moving forward.

The cost of a first-round pick, a swap and both Poeltl and Brown is steep, but it's hardly punitive. The real cost here is financial; Towns is on a max deal that pays him $49 million this season and increases until he makes $61 million in 2027-28. That's a massive financial commitment, and ensures the Raptors will be dealing with tax concerns of their own as early as this season.

The allure of the offensive ceiling is enticing, and on offense Towns and Barnes together would be lethal. Ultimately, however, trying to win at the highest levels with a defensive sieve at center is a failed effort, and this deal would likely cap their ceiling no matter how good Barnes becomes.

Grade: B