Grade the Trade: Raptors get former All-Star from Lakers in bold 3-team proposal

The Toronto Raptors have a Bruce Brown problem.

The team picked up his team option for 2024-25 with the intention of finding a trade partner for him. The veteran guard is not a good fit with this roster due to the overall lack of shooting, and given that he is on an expiring contract it makes a lot more sense to move him now rather than keep him around for a deal down the road.

That reality becomes even more stark when you look at the glut of shooting guards on the roster and overall lack of forward depth. The best way to maximize Brown on a team is to put shooting on the court in the frontcourt and have Brown make plays with the ball in his hands or as a cutter. That's not how the Raptors are built. Brown was likely always a player the Raptors would look to flip to another team.

The Raptors want to trade Bruce Brown

The difficulty in trading Brown is that he makes $23 million and had a relatively down season a year ago. If there were a team out there that wanted to go after Brown at that number it's likely a deal would already have been worked out. Never say never, however, and it only takes one team to make a deal.

What if that team was the Los Angeles Lakers? They have done just about nothing this offseason in terms of upgrading the roster but have a star in LeBron James who is still playing at a Top-10 level. They need to surround him with a team capable for competing around him, and adding a recent champion in Bruce Brown makes a lot of sense.

Let's look at a proposed 3-team trade with the Lakers and see if it would make sense for Toronto to consider.