The Toronto Raptors are going to have to get creative if they want to improve their team during the off-season.
The Raptors have been struggling over the past couple of weeks, and it has led to a drop in the Eastern Conference standings. The Raptors currently sit in seventh place, which will send them to the play-in tournament. Bleacher Report writer Dan Fevali suggests the Raptors should look into trading for Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr.
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“Michael Porter Jr.’s $40.8 million salary will remain prohibitive for select teams. The Raptors shouldn’t be one of them. They have the means to match it without including Immanuel Quickley, and the cost will be short-lived with MPJ scheduled for 2027 free agency,” Favale wrote.
“Squeezing him in alongside Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes gets a tad awkward if he wants to keep stretching his on-ball wings. Even in Brooklyn, though, thevast majority of his bucketscome off assists. Toronto would behugeon the perimeter with him in the fold and able to accommodate whatever center archetype it wants to place beside himself, Barnes and Ingram over the longer haul.”
Raptors Linked to Michael Porter Jr. Trade
Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. warms up prior to the game against the Detroit Pistons. | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Porter Jr. is enjoying the best season of his career so far, averaging 24.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game for the Nets in his first season with the team. If Porter Jr. were to be traded to the Raptors, it wouldn’t be the first time he has been dealt in his career.
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Porter Jr. was traded to the Nets last offseason for Cam Johnson, and it has allowed the former lottery pick in the 2018 NBA draft to break into a role as a number one option. If he were to join the Raptors, he wouldn’t necessarily fill that role. Brandon Ingram would likely still be the leading scorer, but adding another high-level shooter in Porter Jr. could do wonders for the Raptors offence.
The Raptors would have to get very creative if they wanted to acquire Porter Jr. in a trade. It would likely have to involve a third team, and the large salaries coming out of the Raptors and Nets would really make this a complicated deal. Therefore, it’s hard to imagine it happening, not to mention the fact that the Raptors also have Ingram on the wing, which would create an awkward fit with him and Porter Jr.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/raptors/onsi as Raptors Could Trade For $153 Million Forward.