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

Would the Raptors make this trade?

NBA history has proven, without a doubt, that building a championship team is more like assembling a puzzle than collecting baseball cards.

That's why evaluating this trade is more about examining the whole than the individual parts. Is Jakob Poeltl more valuable than Jerami Grant? Maybe. Is RJ Barrett more valuable than Anfernee Simon's? Maybe. These sorts of veteran player challenge trades are extremely hard to balance, and that's why they rarely take place.

Instead, let's look at the lineup the Raptors come away with in the end. Immanuel Quickley and Anfernee Simons are a dynamic offensive pairing in the backcourt, and the Raptors can stagger their minutes to pair each with a defender and give them 48 minutes of shot creation. 

Jerami Grant has the perimeter defensive skillset to play the 3, and together would form a formidable defensive pairing with Scottie Barnes. He has developed into an extremely solid 3-point shooter and is a strong playmaker. What's more, he can slide down to the 4, something Barrett can't realistically do, opening up more lineup combinations.

Finally, Duop Reath is the wild card in this deal. He is a confident 3-point shooter and solid defender; he's not the rim protector that Poeltl is, but his offensive skillset fits perfectly with Barnes. He has real upside to be a low-end starting center and to be relatively affordable because of that.

The value of the trade seems solid; Simons and Grant are great players, and the out-years of Grant's contract are balanced by the value of Simons'. Duop Reath could be a breakout star in his role. Barrett's value is at an all-time high, while Poeltl could likewise start to look worse very quickly. This is a somewhat strange deal, and it's difficult to compare, but it looks like one that would make the Raptors better.

Grade: B+