The Raptors Trade Deadline Moves Were Surprising But Sensible
Many expected that the 2024 trade deadline would serve as a way for the Toronto Raptors to tie up any loose ends they left lingering since trading away franchise cornerstones Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby.
That didn’t necessarily happen.
Bruce Brown is still a Raptor, as are Gary Trent Jr and Chris Boucher. Meanwhile, the Raptors moved Dennis Schroder in a salary dump-motivated transaction. They used one of the first-round picks they acquired in the Siakam deal to trade for Canadian big man Kelly Olynyk and wing prospect Ochai Agbaji from the Utah Jazz.
Each deal is surprising in its approach but sensible in its end conclusion and the deals they didn’t make for Brown, Boucher, and Trent, leave more wandering questions for the Raptors as they head into the off-season.
Let’s dissect the trades and try to understand Toronto’s reasoning.
Olynyk And Agbaji To Toronto, 1st Round Pick and Salary To Utah
Jazz Acquire: Kira Lewis Jr, Otto Porter Jr, and a 2024 1st round pick (worst of Houston/LA Clippers/OKC/Utah)
Raptors Acquire: Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji
On a surface level, trading a 1st round pick is bizarre for a team that is currently 18-33 and 4 games back of the final play-in spot in the East. But the Raptors were never going to keep all 3 of their picks in the 2024 draft. Masai Ujiri said as much in his press conference following the Siakam deal. One of
the 2024 1sts they acquired from Indiana, which is expected to land anywhere from the 28th to 30th pick in a weak draft, was re-routed to acquire the Canadian big-man Olynyk and the 23-year old prospect Agbaji.
