Grade the Trade: Raptors add star Portland guard, add 3 starters in wild new pitch

The Toronto Raptors are in a bit of a rut.

They have an exciting young core in place, but there are legitimate questions about the fit and versatility. Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley fit together well, but Barnes playing with a non-shooting big is a bit cramped offensively, while defensively the Raptors have nothing but shooting guards to both start at the 2 and 3 (RJ Barrett being at the front of that pack) and back up 2 through 4.

With the team too good to tank into a legitimate small forward prospect but not good enough to obviously make the playoffs, and no cap space in sight, their best step to make a significant change to the roster is via the trade market.

The Raptors could make a bold trade

That could mean trading for a star, using the contract of Bruce Brown and draft capital as a base to chase the likes of a Brandon Ingram; that's an intriguing idea, but it handicaps their ability to improve the roster moving forward and only addresses a single position.

What if the Raptors thought bigger? What if, instead of pushing in their assets to upgrade one position, they instead kept the assets and sought to upgrade the entire starting lineup? Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley are untouchable, but could Toronto break up the rest of the group to pursue a completely new look?

Let's look at an off-the-wall trade idea that does just that, and see if it may actually make sense for this franchise to consider.