The Toronto Raptors are hunting for a big man on the trade market, and one name they have been linked to is Anthony Davis. He is likewise said to be interested in Toronto as a destination, and not because of the weather. Davis likely knows the Raptors will be quick to give him the extension that few other teams would be dumb enough to sign.
On the surface, the idea of trading for Anthony Davis is an exciting one for the Raptors and their fans. Davis is a 10-time All-Star, 5-time All-NBA big man who can play power forward or center. He remains one of the league's best defenders, a punishing paint protector and a capable defender in open space. Add in his metronomic 20-point scoring average and you get a Top-15 player in the league when he is healthy.
Such a player should be in high demand around the league. The Dallas Mavericks are teetering on the edge between trying to make a run back to contention next season and resetting their timeline around rookie phenom Cooper Flagg. The right trade package for Davis could tip them over the edge.
Yet when NBA Insiders have reported on the preferences for Davis on the trade market, they are not listing the likes of the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers (a return to Hollywood would be a wild development). Instead, it's the Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors to whom Davis is "amenable" to be traded to.
The Raptors are rarely on anyone's list of preferred destinations. They are a cold-weather city in another country than most players are from and without a storied history of success. They are not a glamour franchise and they don't offer the climate or tax benefits of southern locales.
You might understand it if the Raptors were a true title contender. While they have had a strong start to the season at 23-15, no one has Toronto in the upper echelon of teams this season. Could trading for Anthony Davis change that? Certainly to some extent, but they won't emerge as the sudden favorites to win the Eastern Conference.
Why would Davis want to be traded to Toronto, then? The answer lies not on the court or in the city but rather at the bank. Anthony Davis wants to secure a lucrative new contract extension, and to put it bluntly, he knows the Raptors' front office is dumb enough to give it to him.
Anthony Davis knows Toronto will pay him
Davis is currently making $54 million on the maximum contract extension that he signed with the Lakers. That number increases to $58.5 million next season, and in 2027-28, Davis has a $62.8 million player option he is likely to pick up.
What Davis wants is to tack on a few extra seasons of max money onto that deal, paying him in the upper $60-millions deeper into his career. He wants the security of the longest-term deal he can sign.
He wants that security because the odds of him commanding a maximum salary on the open market in two years are slim to none. Davis is already 32 years old and battles continual injuries. He has played in just 20 games for the Dallas Mavericks this season after just 51 total last year. He has missed more games than he has appeared in since being traded to Dallas.
Where could an injury-prone aging big man find a team willing to pay him max money into his late 30s? In Toronto.
The Raptors negotiated against themselves and signed Immanuel Quickley to a market-resetting contract as an average starting point guard. They traded for Brandon Ingram and immediately signed him to a lucrative new contract before he ever played a game for them, one that no other team was going to pay him.
The coup de grace of indefensible contracts came this past summer, when Jakob Poeltl -- another injury-prone, aging big man who already happens to be on the Raptors -- was given a big-money new contract extension despite being years away from free agency.
The Raptors have shown little discernment or caution when handing out big contracts to players, and it has resulted in a second-tier Eastern Conference team staring down the barrel of the luxury tax. They don't have a Top-20 player, but are paying five starters significant money.
Where can Anthony Davis find a team ready to pay him the money he wants deep into the future? In Toronto. Money talks, and it's whispering enough to Davis for him to consider a trade to a team few players actively want to go to.
If the Raptors pay the cost to trade for Davis and then hand him an extension sure to look like a disaster in three years, it would be a death sentence for an entire half-decade of basketball. And yet the franchise seems to be actively trying to do just that.
That should terrify Raptors fans.