While the Raptors didn’t trade Bruce Brown Jr. again after they acquired him from the Pacers this season, that might change this offseason. The Raptors have until June 29 to exercise his $23MM team option for next season and, according to The Star’s Doug Smith, Toronto is expected to pick up the option and trade Brown quickly, rather than at the 2025 deadline.
Trading Brown would give the Raptors some leeway when it comes to talks with Gary Trent Jr. According to Smith, the sentiment is that Toronto won’t start the season with both Brown and Trent on the roster. Trent is still just 25 and his outside shooting ability might make him more appealing in the long run.
The Raptors acquired Brown as part of the trade that sent Pascal Siakam to Indiana. He averaged 9.6 points in 34 games with Toronto as opposed to 12.1 points in 33 games in Indiana. Despite the slight dip in production, Brown is still viewed as a valuable rotation player with defensive prowess and positional versatility.
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Nets hired Justin Bokmeyer to their front office as their new director of basketball operations, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reports. This move is likely related to the Hornets hiring away Ryan Gisriel, Brooklyn’s former executive director of basketball and business operations. Bokmeyer worked in international basketball operations before going to the NBA. He also helped guide the NBA Academy program and assisted in launching the Basketball Africa League.
- OG Anunoby, who is dealing with a hamstring injury, has missed the past four games for the Knicks. According to The Athletic’s Fred Katz (Twitter link), head coach Tom Thibodeau said Anunoby’s health is “basically the same.” He’s doing some light on-court work but it’s unclear when exactly he will return.
- Miles McBride began the season on the bench, but they’re now calling on him to handle the most important assignments, Newsday’s Steve Popper observes. He was inserted into the starting lineup in Game 5 and was called on to defend the engine of the Pacers’ offense in Tyrese Haliburton, who was held to just 13 points that game. McBride still thinks he has room for improvement. “I think I’ve got to go up a level,” McBride said. “… Obviously he didn’t go scoreless, and he was still impactful in a way, so my goal is for guys to go scoreless and to make as minimum of an impact on the game.” McBride finished Game 6 as the team’s second-highest scorer, with 20 points behind Jalen Brunson‘s 31.
- Josh Hart exited Game 6 in the fourth quarter with what the team called abdominal soreness and didn’t return, according to the team (Twitter link). Hart went out of the game a couple times due to injury, going to the locker room after the first quarter and again later in the game. It’s unclear the severity of the injury. It’s possible this is more of a precautionary move considering the Knicks were trailing significantly at the time, so that they preserve the important role player for Game 7 on Sunday.