Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri could be eyeing a major trade that would acquire Zach Lavine from the Chicago Bulls.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 It's becoming increasingly obvious that the Toronto Raptors offense needs to change, and
00:04 one player who would really help us do that is actually on the trade block in Zach LaVine.
00:09 So what would it cost the Raptors to actually make this trade, and should they pull the
00:14 trigger?
00:15 Let's get into it.
00:16 Zach LaVine on the trade block, a number of teams are going to be interested in the player,
00:20 and one team that some NBA analysts are linked to the player, linking in a sense that hey,
00:26 this is a team that could use a player like this, is the Toronto Raptors.
00:29 The Raptors this season have mightily struggled on offense, and the offensive woes have fully
00:34 been on display in the last few games.
00:36 The Raptors continue to struggle to score in half court settings, mainly because they
00:41 don't have the floor spacers, and really they don't have the scores to really drive in those
00:45 buckets in half court setting.
00:47 When the going gets tough for the Raptors, well, there's just not a lot of answers that
00:51 coach Darko Rajacovic has for this team, but one player who could significantly change
00:56 that and probably won't cost a lot relative to his statistics is Zach LaVine.
01:01 The Chicago Bulls have had a horrid start to the season, and are prepared to give up
01:05 on this current era.
01:07 Zach LaVine could be the first name to go, and they're looking to get a pretty sizable
01:11 return for the player, but they may struggle to do so given the player's contract, which
01:15 is the first thing that you're going to have to consider with the player.
01:18 Zach LaVine this season is going to be making $40 million, but the next three seasons it
01:23 really doesn't get any better.
01:25 That figure climbs to $43 million next season.
01:28 The season after that, it climbs to $46 million, and in the 26-27 season, a 31-year-old Zach
01:35 LaVine has a player option worth $49 million.
01:39 Now I don't know what kind of player Zach LaVine is going to be when he's 31 years old,
01:42 but I would find it very hard to believe he would turn down that $49 million player option
01:47 at the end of this mega five-year deal he signed with the Chicago Bulls.
01:51 So a lot of teams might be interested in the player, but how valuable is Zach LaVine actually
01:57 going to be?
01:58 Because you have to remember, this is an expensive contract, and it's an expensive contract to
02:02 the point that it's going to draw some teams away, and maybe the Bulls have to lessen their
02:07 asking price for teams to actually take on this contract from LaVine.
02:11 Because even though we know how gifted of a scorer he is, he has a tremendous three-point
02:15 game, and he is a bit of a mid-range assassin, one of the many of these dying breed of NBA
02:21 players who are mid-range assassins.
02:22 This player certainly knows how to score, but beyond just a scoring part of his game,
02:27 there isn't a ton that he really has to offer, specifically on the defensive end.
02:32 Zach LaVine is very much a defensive liability, so if you have a team that can hide a player
02:37 like that, fully go for it.
02:39 Maybe the Raptors can fit themselves into that category, but you have to understand
02:42 these deficiencies associated with the player.
02:45 And if you're going to be paying him $40, $43, $46, $49 million, you really want to
02:50 have your star players, which Zach LaVine would be.
02:52 This is the type of contract you'd be giving to a co-star, at least that's what you'd want
02:56 Zach LaVine to be, a co-star with this sort of contract figure.
03:00 You don't want to have to make up for those deficiencies as much as perhaps you would
03:04 with Zach LaVine.
03:05 But again, you can put a good team around him.
03:07 Maybe your primary star is a good defender.
03:09 There are ways to hide that specific player.
03:12 But Zach LaVine, like I said, he's the type of player you'd want to be a co-star for your
03:17 team, but Zach LaVine is making primary star sort of money.
03:21 With the NBA really clamping down on the cap, the salary cap, tax, all these implications,
03:27 $40, $43, $46, $49 million is not exactly what you want to be paying a guy who's not
03:33 your bonafide one option.
03:35 That's a lot of money to commit to a player who you don't perceive to be a first option
03:39 on a winning team.
03:40 I certainly would not perceive him to be the first option on a winning team.
03:44 That's a lot of money to commit to a player while you still have to find the star to go
03:48 along with it.
03:49 Like maybe if he comes to the Raptors, Scotty Barnes is that primary star.
03:53 Scotty Barnes is going to be on his rookie max, so it's not going to be as big of a figure.
03:57 Like, okay, that can make a little bit of sense, but do you think that really pushes
04:00 the Raptors enough to want to make this trade?
04:03 Well, perhaps it does because the asking price for Zach LaVine, as I said, probably isn't
04:08 going to be tremendous.
04:09 The only problem for the Raptors would be to get to the financial figure associated
04:12 with this contract to actually make the salaries balance out.
04:15 But even then, when you put it in the trade machine, it's actually a lot easier than you
04:18 think.
04:19 The Raptors would only have to give up Gary Trent Jr., who would absolutely have to be
04:22 in this trade, like absolutely has to be in this trade, making his 18 and a half million
04:26 dollars.
04:27 But all you have to do alongside that is add in Thaddeus Young, who is literally only on
04:31 the team right now for his eight million dollar contract to be involved as a salary balancing
04:36 option in a trade.
04:37 Like that's the only reason we took his player option to be able to trade it.
04:40 Eight million dollars from Thaddeus Young and about six million dollars from Otto Porter
04:44 Jr.
04:45 Those three players equate to enough for the Chicago Bulls to make this trade.
04:49 Now, obviously, they're not just going to be giving away Zach LaVine.
04:52 Gary Trent Jr. is on an expiring contract.
04:54 Otto Porter Jr. and Thaddeus Young are just salary fillers.
04:57 That's where the real problems start to arise for the Raptors.
05:00 That's where the picks would have to come into play.
05:02 Zach LaVine, I think, is going to be worth two lower tier first round picks, like the
05:07 kind of picks the Sixers got in that Clippers trade with James Harden.
05:12 Those kind of picks, lower tier, higher protections, good teams, those sort of picks I think are
05:16 going to come into play for a player like Zach LaVine.
05:18 The Raptors picks in the upcoming years, I perceive at this very moment to be quite valuable
05:23 going forward for other teams, the way they're assessing them.
05:25 So it would probably only cost a first round pick and maybe a second.
05:30 That's what the Raptors would maybe be willing to give.
05:33 Not sure if that's enough for the Chicago Bulls, but we cannot even go into consideration
05:38 on trading two future first round picks from the Raptors.
05:40 The 2024 first round pick is top six protected to the San Antonio Spurs.
05:45 That could convey in '25.
05:46 That could convey in '26.
05:48 That makes a '27 pick ineligible to trade.
05:50 So if the Raptors were trading two picks for LaVine, two first round picks, it'd be the
05:54 2028 first and the 2030 first.
05:57 So if you want to trade one, it would likely be just the 2028 first round pick that goes
06:01 to the Chicago Bulls to make this trade happen.
06:04 Like the Raptors, when it comes to these first round picks, the best thing the Raptors front
06:11 office does with this team is typically their draft picks.
06:14 Like we struggle to land big trades.
06:17 They never make trades, really.
06:18 We very, very much struggle to land big free agents.
06:20 The way in the woods the Raptors gather talent for their team is with the draft, but we keep
06:27 trading away our first round picks.
06:29 So you might find it a little bit difficult to convince me for the Raptors to actually
06:33 go out and make this trade by trading away more first round picks because the Raptors
06:38 don't have their pick this year and they're in this sort of middling phase here.
06:42 We're hovering around 500.
06:44 It feels like that's going to be the case for the majority of the season.
06:48 You would really want to have that first round pick to fall back on for this season so that
06:51 you can equip some more talent for this team.
06:54 But like I said, we gave that away last year at the trade deadline.
06:57 But people keep talking about this top six protection to pick.
07:00 Like what are the Raptors are bad enough that the top six protection comes into play?
07:03 Like, okay, very rare.
07:05 The Raptors are too good likely for that to come into play to be a bottom 16.
07:09 Then you have to get lottery luck, by the way, and stay in the bottom six.
07:12 But even if, let's say somehow the Raptors are in the bottom six after the lottery and
07:18 they actually are able to use their pick this season.
07:20 Well, guess what?
07:21 Then next season's pick goes to San Antonio.
07:24 So you can't escape it at like what you would want for this team is to lose that first round
07:29 pick this year.
07:30 So you don't have to worry about it anymore.
07:31 And you finally have your picks back and you finally have your flexibility in trading those
07:34 picks back for the future.
07:36 So bottom line for me, first round picks are a coveted piece for the Raptors, a coveted
07:40 asset for the Raptors that we need to use to make our team better, especially to provide
07:45 some more additional help to players like Scottie Barnes, who it's very clear the intent
07:48 is to build around Scottie Barnes going forward.
07:51 And I'm not so sure if going for Zach LaVine truly makes enough sense for this team.
07:56 Going for Zach LaVine right now as well with just so much uncertainty associated with your
08:01 team seems like a very ill-fated decision.
08:04 Because even if you do bring in Zach LaVine, now you have to worry about still Siakam as
08:09 an upcoming free agent, OG, and nobody's an upcoming free agent.
08:12 Gary Trent Jr. no longer have to worry about.
08:14 But I think if you bring in Zach LaVine, then your ability to hang on to Pascal Siakam significantly
08:20 diminishes.
08:21 OG and an OB, maybe there's more of an incentive for him to stay at that point, but also associated
08:26 with that, OG can choose to walk if he wants to.
08:29 OG is eligible for a $43 million a year max extension at the end of the season.
08:34 Sounds like a crazy number, but we just saw Frev and Vleet get $42 million max contract.
08:40 If the Raptors aren't prepared to go in the range of that number for OG, there's a distinct
08:46 possibility that another team will be.
08:48 I'm not saying for sure, but I'm saying there is a very good chance a team is going to assess
08:53 OG as a coveted piece to their championship puzzle.
08:57 That team could be the Philadelphia 76ers, and make that offer for OG to lure him in
09:01 and put him on their organization.
09:03 So teams that are at a closer stage towards contention phases can do that with OG.
09:09 But when it comes to Zach LaVine, yes, he's making that sort of money, but you'd have
09:13 to consider the long-term plan here.
09:16 In the short term, bringing Zach LaVine this season with the players I outlined, yeah,
09:21 that's a great team.
09:22 That's Barnes at the 1, LaVine at the 2, OG at the 3, Siakam at the 4, Pearl at the 5.
09:26 Dennis Schroeder, your 6-man off the bench.
09:28 Adds a little bit of extra depth to the team as well by having Dennis Schroeder coming
09:31 off your bench.
09:33 That's a likely top 4 team in the East.
09:35 That's probably bare minimum a top 5 team in the East.
09:37 But I don't think that team is equipped enough to compete with the likes of Boston or Milwaukee,
09:42 and certainly the Sixers, the way they're playing right now.
09:45 So it doesn't really get you over the line this season.
09:48 And long-term implications, you still struggle to maintain Siakam and OG and Nobi for the
09:52 future.
09:53 That is a huge problem going forward in terms of asset management.
09:57 And you're committing all this money to Zach LaVine when I don't even think he's as good
10:02 or as valuable to a team as Pascal Siakam is.
10:04 Zach LaVine's a great player, but on that contract, I'd rather be paying Siakam that
10:09 sort of money than paying Zach LaVine that sort of money.
10:12 To be honest, I'd rather not be paying either of them that money given the current situation
10:16 with this team for the Raptors going forward.
10:18 There's no clear vision in place of what this team is or what this team wants to be.
10:24 Does it want to be a winning team?
10:25 Does it want to be a developmental team?
10:26 It feels like there is an internal struggle with the organization itself trying to figure
10:31 out the answer to that question.
10:33 So making a massive splash on a player who is locked in on this contract at this figure
10:38 for this amount of time just doesn't, like, just adds to the confusion.
10:42 Just doesn't make sense to this team.
10:44 We need to figure out as an organization, the front office needs to figure out as an
10:48 organization what they want this team to be going forward, what they want it to be right
10:53 now.
10:54 And before they do that, we can't be making massive trades like this and committing massive
10:59 parts to our future and sacrificing future assets in order to make it happen.
11:04 So as much as Zach Levine for this one season would add on a lot to the Raptors, future
11:09 implications seriously scare me.
11:12 And for that reason on this trade, I have to be completely out on this one.