RJ Barrett<\/a>, and within hours texted back to say that the Kings weren\u2019t going to move the big Lithuanian centre.\u00a0<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a little bit par for the course at a time of year, when it\u2019s hard to tell whether what you\u2019re hearing is actually something close to real, or just the NBA echo chamber reverberating on itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As well, my sense is that the significant drivers of the Sabonis discussion have been his representatives, who are eager to get a frustrated, quality, veteran player out what has crumbled from a legitimate playoff team to a full-blown rebuild in the space of two seasons. Attaching their client to teams where there might be some interest helps stir the pot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Raptors’ need for a skilled big \u2014 especially with Poeltl\u2019s health a question mark \u2014 has made Toronto an obvious talking point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But a source I spoke with Tuesday who was close to the situation with Sacramento stressed that the connection between Kings general manager Scott Perry and Barrett \u2014 Perry drafted the Raptors wing No. 3 overall when he was running the New York Knicks \u2014 was overblown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sometimes in these situations, there might be an urgency from a player \u2014 Barrett, in this case \u2014 who is going to be looking for a contract extension this summer to push for a move to a team that is willing to provide one, but I\u2019m told that\u2019s not the case here. Barrett has had a strong year playing alongside Barnes and Brandon Ingram and his value has in some ways been underscored when he\u2019s been out of the lineup with knee and ankle injuries. The Raptors are 19-9 in the 27 games Barrett has played and 11-12 in the games he\u2019s missed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My understanding is Barrett wants to play in Toronto and is willing to see what a strong second half and playoff push will do for the value of an extension in the off-season.<\/p>\n
Even as of Tuesday morning, I was getting texts from people close to the Kings suggesting that the Kings were open to doing something with Sabonis (and Barrett) but only if a third team could be found for Poeltl.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Which is where the rubber meets the road on so many of the potential Raptors’ trade scenarios. Things come to a screeching halt when Poeltl\u2019s name comes up.<\/p>\n
When Poeltl signed his\u00a0three-year, $84-million contract extension this past summer (which kicks in after he final year of his four-year, $78-million deal runs out in 2026-27), he was coming off a career year, and the sense in Toronto was that either Poeltl would be a foundational piece as the team returned to competitive relevance with Ingram in the fold, or that he had enough fans with different organizations that his contract was reasonably moveable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGood centres are like unicorns,\u201d said one league source. \u201cThey\u2019re hard to find. You need bigs to win in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n
But you need healthy players to win too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Poeltl is not that, at least not at the moment, so any trade scenario in which he\u2019s involved seems highly unlikely, which means when it comes to any of the big swings the Raptors might have wanted to take by the deadline, the bat is barely off their shoulder.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a really hard to guy to trade right now,\u201d said one source who has been monitoring the situation. \u201cHe\u2019s hurt and he\u2019s locked in for five years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Boston Celtics, as example, have long been fans of Poeltl, going back to the 2023 trade deadline. They still held hold him in high regard and were monitoring his situation this season, but even with the big Austrian beginning to take live reps at practice with the Raptors after basically being out of the lineup since Dec. 15, Boston instead pulled the trigger on a deal for Chicago Bulls veteran big man Nikola Vucevic, with Anfernee Simons going to Chicago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Could the Raptors have been involved if Poeltl was healthy?\u00a0<\/p>\n
A three-way trade where Simons ends up in Sacramento, Sabonis in Toronto and Poeltl in Boston was doable, depending on which secondary salaries were included.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another team that I heard Poeltl mentioned with was the Indiana Pacers, who are looking for a quality big to round out their lineup for next season when Tyrese Haliburton is presumably healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My fake trade: Poeltl to the Pacers for Jay Huff, Benedict Mathurin and Ben Sheppard.\u00a0Huff is a back-up-level, rim-protecting big who can spread the floor and is among the league leaders in blocked shots. He could help bolster the Raptors frontline now and next season on a deal that pays him $2.35 million this year and $2.67 million next, with a team option for $3 million in 2027-28. Mathurin is looking for a contract extension and it\u2019s widely assumed the fourth-year wing won\u2019t get one from the Pacers. Sheppard makes the salary work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Given that the Pacers are playing for lottery balls at this point, you can envision the Raptors talking them into taking on Poeltl since they\u2019re not worried about him playing any time soon. And Poeltl does have fans there. But big enough fans to take on a player who has missed more than half the season and is on the books for four years after this?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Raptors have been active in the weeks up the deadline. \u201cThey\u2019re always aggressive, it feels like,\u201d said one Eastern Conference general manager.<\/p>\n
But it could all add up to nothing, in large measure because Poeltl isn\u2019t playing, with no firm deadline for his return from this wonky back problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing structural, there\u2019s no nerve issue, it\u2019s just a confusing injury,\u201d said one source close to the situation.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s at least helped clarify the Raptors build-up to the deadline, however. In a different set of circumstances, Poeltl might have been the foundation piece of a trade package or been playing so well, the Raptors wouldn\u2019t think about moving him. But the way things are now, it\u2019s certain he\u2019s staying put, and the Raptors can only hope the most important trade they make this year is one they can\u2019t make:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s one guy that I really, really like that I would like to join our team,\u201d said Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said the other day about his trade deadline wishes. \u201cHis name is Jakob Poeltl; that guy can definitely help us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Darko to the World:\u00a0He didn\u2019t announce it himself. While Rajakovic was recognizing the various Raptors scheduled to participate in all-star weekend, he didn\u2019t mention that he had been named the head coach for the World Team at the All-Star Game. It was assistant coach Jama Mahlalela who told the team about the honour. The Raptors were very excited for their head coach, who started his NBA career in humble circumstances as a G League head coach in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2012-13 and has worked his way up through four organizations and will at the epicentre of basketball on Feb. 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is amazing honour to represent Serbia, to represent Canada, to represent the whole world at the All-Star Game,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, it\u2019s the best of the best, and it’s going to be a lot of fun to see all of those international guys being on the same team. There’s going to be three or four guys that speak my language, so it’s gonna be pretty fun. Nikola Jokic, he’s celebrating his birthday around that time as well, so we’ll have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n
They really like him:\u00a0To a man, the Raptors were happy for the recognition Rajakovic earned, but perhaps no one has thrived more under Rajakovic than Sandro Mamukelashvili, the journeyman who has emerged as an essential piece in the Raptors rotation. \u201c(He)\u00a0just allows you to be you and just not think too much. Just play hard,\u201d the Georgian big man said. \u201c(He) gives you freedom to decide on the court how you want to play. And only thing he asks from you is every day to bring 110 per cent of intensity, work hard and just be coachable. But on the court, he just gives you that freedom, which is great for a player, because it just makes you be you, and it helps you, and also he has a very unselfish style of basketball, so it\u2019s kind of built towards you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cover duty:\u00a0The Raptors were pretty excited about Ingram and Barnes being featured on the latest edition of Slam Magazine, the culture-setting hoops publication that has produced covers that routinely end up as collectors\u2019 items. Mamukelashvili and Rajakovic both wore T-shirts featuring the cover art, and the Raptors had images of the cover displayed across the wall of the practice court. Jamal Shead was excited about it, but saw some humour in it too \u2014 Barnes and Ingram are posed to look a fierce, and Shead, whose locker sits adjacent to each of them, wasn\u2019t really buying it. \u201cI think it’s cool … (but) it\u2019s just really funny, because it’s Scotty and B.I., I think everybody sees it as, \u2018Oh, yeah, the Toronto Raptors, the two best guys\u2019. But it\u2019s funny because it\u2019s Scottie and B.I., and they acting a little tough.\u201d Emphasis on acting, was Shead\u2019s inference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s looming as the major complication for Toronto at the NBA trade deadline also.\u00a0 First things first: the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3770],"tags":[7,6,681,680,476,3820],"class_list":{"0":"post-580743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-raptors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-raptors","11":"tag-toronto","12":"tag-toronto-raptors","13":"tag-torontoraptors"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116009624904796849","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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