For months now, I won't deny that I've been largely pushing the agenda that Raptors wing RJ Barrett seemed all but certain to be on the chopping block.
I had pretty good reason to think so, given Toronto's seemingly obvious efforts to work on his departure (way back to even the trade deadline), and subsequent insider reports supporting those claims. But as the madness of free agency has passed and further trades and transactions across the league have been conducted, those firm beliefs that Barrett would be rerouted elsewhere have quickly lost their steam.
RJ Barrett appears likely to remain with Raptors
And as I've seen what other tradable players across the league have warranted in terms of value, I can't think of a reasonable package that an asset of RJ Barrett's caliber would be worth giving up for Toronto. We've seen what have essentially turned out to be straight swaps of talent, which the general public might assume could also attract a myriad of future draft capital; yet, the recent trade market has proven otherwise.
Just yesterday, we saw a three-team trade that sent fringe All-Star and ex-Raptor Norman Powell to the Miami Heat, while rerouting big man John Collins to the Clippers. The Utah Jazz were the only team to reap a draft pick — and it was a 2027 second-rounder, no less. I'm sure the regular basketball watcher would expect that a player of Powell's caliber, given his recent best statistical season to date at age 32, could definitely fetch a first-rounder or two — even with protections or expected to be a late pick — but alas, the market is proving to be quite hazy in that regard.
Even the Celtics' recent array of trades did not bring back an arsenal of draft picks, despite their main goal being simply trying to rid salary by any means. Shipping out Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis did not yield much in return, and as we saw with the Holiday trade, which proved difficult due to physical issues, it ultimately ended up being just a straight one-for-one swap for Anfernee Simons. It was merely the recent Nuggets-Nets trade that sent Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson, where a perhaps quite valuable pick was included — namely, a future 2032 unprotected first-rounder.
But with all due respect to RJ Barrett, I think he's a step behind being considered on the level of some of these previously mentioned assets, considering a lot of them are seen as fundamental veterans or key supporting pieces to a title-hopeful core.
I can't expect many teams out there willing to sacrifice a ton of value to take a swing on Barrett; rather, these recent trades have led me to think that the "Maple Mamba" would essentially be salary dumped more than anything. And as I've explored before, there are some teams out there I could see taking on his contract, like Washington or Chicago, and shipping out a vet in return — like say a Marcus Smart or Kevin Huerter.
As weird as Barrett's fit may be within the current Raptors roster construction, I think now more than ever the franchise will focus on evaluating what this core can look like when healthy and through lineup experimentation. Perhaps the initial fears of chemistry issues prove otherwise; it's worth giving Barrett a shot before jumping the gun on just trying to get rid of him for the sake of it. And who knows, maybe near the deadline again, a more desirable offer will be on the table.