Grade the Trade: Raptors land unwanted All-Star in questionable new proposal

This trade is a rough one for the Raptors

The Toronto Raptors should not be married to the Jakob Poeltl experience. He is an offensively limited veteran center on a relatively expensive contract, and while his defense and rebounding are extremely valuable, the Raptors may be able to find a better option to grow with the team.

That doesn't mean they should trade him for anyone, and this deal represents a baffling disaster for Toronto. In trading for Brandon Ingram and subsequently paying him something close to a max contract -- the only circumstance under which they or any team would trade for him -- the Raptors are truly locking themselves into an expensive team.

They would also be a better team than they were before, at least in terms of offensive firepower, and would need to push to win faster than expected. That becomes more difficult without a center; in moving Poeltl, the Raptors' options to replace him are worse than the current Pelicans. Kelly Olynyk is tissue paper on defense, and otherwise they have the injured Chris Boucher and end-of-draft rookies.

Ingram has also proven to be much more impactful with the ball in his hands than as an off-ball player, but the Raptors already have three-such players in Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett. The Raptors need support players or they need clearly-better stars; another "good" on-ball player won't improve the offense enough to make up for the defensive loss nor the spacing concerns.

On that front, adding a pair of shooters in Matt Ryan and Jordan Hawkins is valuable, but it's not clear when they would even see the court. By starting Ingram, Barrett is pushed to shooting guard, and suddenly the Raptors have five young shooting guards behind him vying for a spot in the rotation. Would Hawkins and Ryan make it over Gradey Dick?

This trade would lock Toronto into overpaying a good but ill-fitting forward, leave them without a competent option at center and further muddy the waters of their roster. It doesn't fit their timeline, it doesn't maximize the roster and it doesn't make any sense for them to make.

Grade: D