With Dame Lillard to the Raptors Rumors Underway, Toronto Faces Same Old Problem

The Toronto Raptors will face the same old roster crunch this summer if trade talks with the Portland Trail Blazers for Damian Lillard ever really pick up

Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

It might as well be the Kevin Durant trade talks 2.0.

At some point this summer a star-to-superstar caliber player is going to demand to be traded. Frankly, the rumors have already begun to circle around Damian Lillard who has been nothing but loyal to the Portland Trail Blazers organization. But after another lost season in Portland, a shakeup may finally be on the horizon.

The Toronto Raptors have popped up as a potential landing spot courtesy of SNY’s Frank Isola who said he thinks Lillard will end up in the Eastern Conference if he’s dealt this summer.

“I think all those teams will go after Dame Lillard,” Isola said of Toronto, Atlanta, Miami, Brooklyn, and Philadelphia.

The problem for the Raptors is the same one the organization had with whatever trade talks transpired last summer when Durant’s name was mentioned.

In order to trade for Lillard and his $45.6 million contract next season, Toronto has to send back $36.6 million in salary. That’s doable if Toronto includes Pascal Siakam, but moving Siakam to acquire Lillard would seemingly defeat the purpose of the superstar trade and leave the Raptors without enough talent to seriously contend for a championship.

The Raptors could also hit that $36 million number with a combination of O.G. Anunoby, Chris Boucher, and Otto Porter Jr., assuming he opts in to his $6.3 million player option for next season. Again, though, that leaves Toronto without enough talent to contend for a championship.

In theory, a swap including Scottie Barnes would allow Toronto to maintain enough talent to contend with Lillard while satisfying Portland’s presumably high demands, but Barnes’ $8 million salary next year makes it virtually impossible to trade him for any superstar player.

There is, in theory, the sign-and-trade option but rarely do players get signed and traded in blockbuster deals, though Collin Sexton was moved last summer in Cleveland’s deal for Donovan Mitchell. That deal, though, included a boatload of future first-round draft picks, the kind of package The Raptors can’t offer Portland until Toronto’s 2024 first-round pick conveys to San Antonio.

Further Reading

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Nick Nurse just the first of "big changes" ahead for the Raptors, Masai Ujiri says

O.G. Anunoby says the right things, but Raptors face decision with complicated extension