Grade the Trade: Raptors sell high on RJ Barrett to land Jokic 2.0 in new proposal

Should the Raptors make this trade?

There is something special about having a hometown player star for your team, and it's very possible that RJ Barrett is taking that step up into stardom that he was supposed to coming out of Duke but never managed to attain in New York. He is a three-level scorer, an underrated playmaker and a strong rebounder, especially for his size. He plays hard on defense and seems to be a high-character person and influence on a locker room. He checks all of the boxes for a player the Raptors would want to have around.

Yet even as things have been trending upwards for Barrett, it's very possible that trend plateaus or even regresses. Barrett had stretches of hot shooting or inspired play in New York only to fall back to earth. On a Raptors team with multiple mouths to feed, it's not a given that Barrett ascends to being worthy of a large load; he could lose efficency while maintaining his volume and be a much less effective player.

That's the probability that has to be balanced by the Raptors, and compared to the addition of Alperen Sengun. His offensive potency is sky-high; one of those 12 players mentioned previously matching Barrett's marks was Sengun, who put up 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and five assists last season. The only centers in the last decade to put up those numbers are Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and DeMarcus Cousins. Go back to the NBA-ABA merger in 1976-77 and you only add Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the list; he was pretty good.

What's unique about Toronto's roster in comparison to Houston's is that Scottie Barnes is a capable paint protector. Most teams need their center to be the primary rim protector, but the Denver Nuggets cracked the code by adding Aaron Gordon next to Nikola Jokic. The Raptors could do the same thing with Barnes and Sengun.

Trading for Sengun would require another deal to send Jakob Poeltl to another team, and that trade would almost have to bring back a forward. RJ Barrett is playing out of position at small forward but he's the team's only real option at the 3; moving him would make a roster weakness worse.

There is a lot to love about Barrett's fit on the Raptors, but the upside of Sengun is undoubtedly higher. If this trade was on the table, the Raptors would have to think long and hard about it. The possibility of landing a true offensive superstar is hard to pass up.

Grade: A-