Raptors’ biggest mistake at 2024 NBA trade deadline

Some of the Raptors’ moves were confusing but explainable. One nontrade, however, defies all expectation and explanation.

The Toronto Raptors, after much ado, finally faced the music and traded away two of their key guys, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, marking the true end of a successful era of Raptors basketball.

Given the franchise’s circumstances, it wasn’t quite clear how they were going to get out of the league’s dreaded middle ground without making drastic moves of that magnitude. Now, they have a clear direction of building around the youthful Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett.

However, even though their direction might be clearer than it was, there are still a few splotches of mud on their windshield. What remains for the Raptors is a noncommittal approach to retooling, although that isn’t exactly a huge mistake, if at all.

Masai Ujiri’s perspective on roster building has always been to maintain flexibility, which means keeping tradeable assets so they could swing a few trades that ends up helping the franchise for the long run. That’s what happened for the Raptors in the mid-2010s.

Ujiri gathered plenty of solid players, and then before he could trade away Kyle Lowry, the core blossomed into a consistent playoff contender. And then in 2018, when that iteration of the Raptors reached its ceiling, he was able to turn DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl (as well as a 2019 first-round pick) into Kawhi Leonard — the best trade for a rental player in league history.

However, holding on to this player legitimately makes no sense for the Raptors, especially when this man can bolt for greener pastures when he enters free agency. Here is the Raptors’ biggest mistake at the 2024 NBA trade deadline.

Raptors’ biggest mistake at 2024 NBA trade deadline: Not pulling off a Gary Trent Jr. trade

Before diving into the Raptors’ Gary Trent Jr. situation, it has to be said that the Raptors did have a very confusing Feb. 8. They traded away a first-round pick for Kelly Olynyk, and they held onto Bruce Brown — a combination of decisions that not too many people expected, especially from a selling team.

Nonetheless, at least those decisions are defensible. The Raptors had plenty of 2024 first-round picks at their disposal, so why not give up one in exchange for a quality player who appears likely to re-sign with the team for the long haul?

With Pascal Siakam playing for the Indiana Pacers now, the Raptors had a void in the frontcourt for a versatile big man who can pass and shoot and dribble, and Olynyk would at least be a helpful piece for Toronto as they try to remain a respectable team.

Meanwhile, not trading away Bruce Brown, while it could be a missed opportunity, is not the end of the world for the Raptors. Brown should be under contract for next season still when the Raptors pick up their option, so perhaps in the offseason, Toronto gets even more offers for the versatile combo guard/forward when teams have more ways of creating cap room.

And then there’s the Dennis Schroder-Spencer Dinwiddie trade that saves the Raptors some money for next season, allowing them to be major players in free agency should they choose to upgrade their roster using that route.

Sure, it does hurt to see that they didn’t get any draft assets for Schroder or that Thaddeus Young, a player they gave up a first-round pick for, was dealt for nothing. But at least these moves have some easy-to-explain rationale behind them.

But there goes Gary Trent Jr., who has managed to survive the culling in Toronto. Trent has been involved in trade rumors for a while, and yet there he remains, playing a bit role for a Raptors team that has changed so much around him.

Sure, he’s the Raptors’ starting shooting guard. But there was no reason for the team to hold onto him other than the fact that they may not have gotten any offers for him, which is unlikely, since Trent’s sharpshooting skillset on an expiring contract could have netted them some sort of draft compensation.

But now, the Raptors are stuck with Gary Trent Jr. They may not get a chance to recoup any sort of value for him, as he’s set to enter free agency in a few months’ time.

Thankfully, this is not like the Fred VanVleet situation where the Raptors are losing an All-Star guard for nothing. Trent is not that kind of player. But their painful indecision when it comes to trading away Trent could prove costly especially for a franchise that has a lottery pick (Gradey Dick) waiting in the wings to assume Trent’s place in the starting lineup.