Before a Giannis Antetokounmpo deal was even made official, there were already rumors circulating of other Bucks players potentially drawing interest in the trade market.
In the case of the Toronto Raptors, that particular Milwaukee target to watch has largely been center Myles Turner.
While the Turner-Raptors fit is intriguing, I'm here to argue that he's actually not Toronto's best target to steal from Milwaukee, especially in light of the likely hard reset following a post-Giannis Antetokounmpo trade. Instead, the player in question that Toronto should be all over is AJ Green.
Don't get it twisted either, I'm not against a Turner trade by any means. I see where he could present a new dynamic to the Raptors' frontcourt as a defensively-sound, floor-spacing big. At the same time, Turner isn't an exceptional rebounder at his position and he isn't exactly a cheap get either — only going into the second-year of a four-year deal signed last offseason worth $107 million (with a player option in 2028-29).
That being said, it's been easy for some to suggest the Raptors simply throw together a package of Jakob Poeltl (Toronto's own expensive big man), Gradey Dick, and draft capital to acquire Turner. It's those draft assets where I, and seemingly others in Raptors Nation as social media suggests, find a sense of hesitancy to aggressively saying yes to a Turner deal.
Which brings me to the allure of an AJ Green fit for the Raptors.
AJ Green should be at the top of Toronto's radar in light of Giannis Antetokounmpo trade
Unlike Turner, who the Raptors would likely have to throw Poeltl's large salary to match, Green is merely owed a bit over $10 million for the next three seasons — having signed the four-year, $45 million extension in October 2025.
For a guy who just averaged 10.4 points on 41.9 percent shooting from beyond the arc, that''s quite the budget contract by today's NBA standards. In fact, Green has shot above 40 percent from deep for his entire NBA journey, where he is a career 42.0 percent three-point shooter.
He isn't some blow-away athlete with a flashy moveset, but for a team like Toronto that is in dire need of competent spacing — Green could slot in right away and fill in that missing component. Throw him into the game and he can explode quick from deep, which is exactly the type of weapon a team that has Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram, and Collin Murray-Boyles will eventually need.
So, what would Toronto's most logical trade proposal to acquire Green look like?
Toronto could get there fairly easily by accepting Gradey Dick's final option on his rookie deal ($7.1 million), add in the largely fizzled out Jonathan Mogbo (who makes $2.2 million), and a myriad of second-round picks (three to four should do) to get an AJ Green deal done.
That tidbit about the second-rounders is extremely important on Milwaukee's side too, as they do not hold any future picks of that category for the next seven years. By leveraging Green in a trade to slowly build that capital again, it gives the Bucks an important reason to say deal, while the Raptors swap two faltering youngsters for a win-now piece.
I reckon if we hear Green being made officially available, he will surely draw in a ton of other contenders looking to pick him up. But a relatively low-risk, high-reward deal like this is exactly what the Raptors should be focused on moving forward — whereas the Turner deal just seems a bit too volatile.
It's up to Bobby Webster and Toronto's front office to get cookin'.
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