Will the Toronto Raptors be sellers at the deadline AGAIN?

With three weeks to the NBA Trade Deadline, Toronto could be sending players out with their eyes on receiving picks in return.

The NBA trade deadline is less than three weeks away now, and despite the fact that there have been four trades in the league so far, none have involved the Toronto Raptors. What a lovely reprieve from the chaos of last season where the Raptors were very active in trades.

That doesn’t mean they will stay quiet for long though. The Raptors do have some important decisions to make ahead of the deadline with contracts expiring and the rebuild still in full swing.

While the last update we did had mostly just twitter theories and whisperings of what could come, now there are tangible rumours to go off of. Marc Stein hasn’t revealed too much of the Raptors trade talks, mostly because other teams and the Jimmy Butler drama have been more pressing. In his latest update, he did mention a bit about what Toronto might have cooking.

The Bruce Brown Saga

It’s pretty well known that Bruce Brown has been on the Toronto trading block pretty much since the day he landed at Pearson from Indiana. Part of the initial Pascal Siakam trade with the Pacers, Brown’s expiring $23 million contract is hanging over the heads of the front office.

They decided not to trade him for 2024 draft stock. They decided not to trade him during free agency last offseason. So far in the 2024-25 season they haven’t traded him. The clock is winding down on being able to get anything back for Brown, to make the Siakam trade mean anything more than it currently does.

If they don’t trade Brown before the deadline, Stein reports they could think about sign and trade options in the summer. Yet, would Masai and Bobby take that risk? After a few years of some questionable decisions, the response may not be ideal if a risk like that is taken.

Stein doesn’t outline any specific trades the Raptors are workshopping around Brown, but he could attract a decent deal or some good picks.

Chris Boucher on the move?

Another Raptor Stein mentioned was Chris Boucher, also on an expiring contract. Boucher has been in and out of the rotation for the past two seasons, and it’s universally accepted that he is at the end of his Raptors tenure.

The thing with Boucher now is that he has been playing really well over the past few weeks. Per Keerthika Uthayakumar, Boucher had stretch of four games where he had a true shooting percentage of 95.9% — which was 4th highest all time since 1982.

This could make Boucher’s contract very appealing to other teams in the near future.

Other than those two, there don’t seem to be many Raptors players rumoured on the outs. Toronto is apparently looking to get picks back in these trades, so moves are pretty dependant on whether teams have the picks the Raptors are looking for.

With a lottery pick coming their way in 2025, it could be another active draft year for Toronto. Future picks are also a part of the plan. We may not see many actual players return at the deadline, and the Raptors would likely use those open roster spots to cycle through 10-day contracts.

Unlike in 2024, the Raptors probably won’t be extremely active until the deadline is much closer. What are you opinions on the Toronto Raptors’ trade situation?