Raptors attempted to trade $107M youngster for $186M center image
The Toronto Raptors have been rather active throughout the NBA offseason, hoping to eventually complete a trade for Kawhi Leonard with the Los Angeles Clippers.
For the time being, that seems to be on standby, and it remains uncertain if it will be figured out in the near future.
Regardless, the Raptors have looked for other ways to improve on both sides of the basketball, and per the latest report, that even resulted in them floating RJ Barrett in a potential deal at last year's trade deadline with the Sacramento Kings for Domantas Sabonis.
“The Kings nearly traded Sabonis to the Toronto Raptors at the deadline in February -- a move he would've welcomed, a source with knowledge of the situation said -- for a package that included RJ Barrett, but the Raptors were unable to get off the three-year, $84 million remaining on Jakob Poeltl's contract, which doomed the deal,” Anthony Slater wrote.
Sabonis is an interesting player, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some other teams around the league continue to show interest, like the Raptors. If Toronto truly believes that it would get an above-average player who can improve its offense, Sabonis could be that guy.
Defensively speaking, however, he isn't great. Still, if the Leonard trade goes through, the Raptors might not be too worried about how the rim protection looks, an idea that might not be the right one.
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