Grade the Trade: Raptors pair Paul George with Kawhi to defend title in alternate past

Laying out a Paul George trade in 2019

To go back to 2019 is to enter another world, one before the COVID-19 pandemic and when names like Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were light years away from MVP discussions. The Golden State Warriors had ruled the NBA for five years, but with Kevin Durant leaving and Klay Thompson injured, the landscape was ripe for a shakeup.

The Toronto Raptors didn’t have to face a full-strength Warriors squad in the 2019 NBA Finals, but they weren’t a pushover team, either. They were battle-tested through a strong Eastern Conference playoff field and were two-deep at every position. If Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green had merely elected to return, the Raptors were set up to be a top-tier contender the following season.

That’s not the alternate reality to consider here, however. It seems certain that Leonard was only interested in teaming up with another superstar, be that LeBron James on the Los Angeles Lakers or Paul George, whether that was in LA or in Toronto. Yet the other party involved here is Oklahoma City; the Thunder had to be heavily incentivized to trade their star wing to the Clippers in 2019, and one presumes the same would have been necessary for Toronto to bring him in.

In fact, a report from Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star in 2019 has resurfaced after George’s comments that explains the package the Thunder would have demanded from Toronto:

There are a number of ways to skin the cat here; a different construction could be built where OG Anunoby headlines a deal instead of Siakam, and it’s very possible the Raptors would have been able to negotiate the price down somewhat, but for the sake of this discussion let’s assume the Thunder, holding plenty of leverage, held the line with that trade offer. 

The Raptors would need to have added more salary into the deal to make the salaries work; here is what a potential trade could have looked like in full:

The Thunder get Pascal Siakam back as a centerpiece to build around, and two-way guard Fred VanVleet as well. They could still have executed the Russell Westbrook trade to the Houston Rockets, bringing back Chris Paul and pairing him with VanVleet in the backcourt. Neither Siakam nor VanVleet have hit the heights that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has, but having two All-Stars instead of one is certainly not a major loss compared to the package they ultimately received. Serge Ibaka would have returned home to the Thunder.

What about for Toronto; would this deal have made them the title favorites in 2019-20?