This Pascal Siakam trade could fix Raptors and Warriors: Why Toronto says yes and no to Klay Thompson package
The Raptors and Warriors are two teams that are clearly in need of shake-ups.
Toronto is looking like it may not even make the Play-In Tournament and faces many of the same issues it did last season — not enough shooting and an offense that ranks in the bottom third of the league.
Golden State is wasting one of the few precious remaining years of Stephen Curry’s prime. Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins have looked like shells of themselves, resulting in a disappointing below .500 record after a 6-2 start to the season.
There are some obvious trade candidates for both teams. Pascal Siakam’s name has been in the rumor mill for a long time now, most recently by The Athletic’s Shams Charania. Charania wrote that teams believe “now, more than ever, either Siakam or [O.G.] Anunoby could be traded by the Feb. 8 deadline.”
The Warriors have a couple of contracts that could bring in another piece to help them. Chris Paul and Andrew Wiggins are both on big deals. Paul has been vital to the team’s bench, though, and Wiggins has three years left on a four-year, $109 million deal that is negative value.
How about Klay Thompson then? The Warriors couldn’t come to terms on an extension with him, so he will be a free agent this summer. It would have been unthinkable to trade him at the start of the year, but he’s been so ineffective that he sat in crunch time of a 119-116 loss to the Suns. Given his $43.2 million expiring salary, he’s the easiest guy for the team to move.
