The most underrated big man on the block: JAK POELTL.

[oldncreaky]

Minority opinion: keep him.

He's got good hands, great mobility, knows where to be on both ends, above average screen-setter, above average PnR defender, good passer, good rebounder, efficient shooter, good mentor for younger players. That's a lot of positives against the single negative of no range outside the paint. That type of big man usually ages well; if he avoids major injury, he'll play at this level for another 5+ years. That's probably significantly better value than the non-lotto FRP they could get for him if the valuations in this thread are correct.

Also, Toronto doesn't need to trade him to tank this year -- injuries to a thin line-up have already taken care of that -- but they will want a functional C if they're going to become competitive sometime in the next 2-3 years, and they don't really have any young Cs in the pipeline.

I'd hold on to Poeltl this trade deadline, and reconsider at the 2026 deadline when he likely has more value, and it might be clearer if Toronto will be competitive anytime soon

[mademan]

This feels like a 1 year tank for the Raps and theyre not looking to sell off every vet for best offer- they gotta go- type deals. I dont think the 20th pick in the draft would be enough to get the Raps to come up off of Poeltl. Theyre still gonna need a C next year

[Ell Curry]

TOR paid a lotto pick to get him.

If they had the chance to make that trade again, would they?

I think no because even with it being an ugly draft, Edey was available and Clingan one pick higher (so maybe could have moved up and gotten him for some 2nds or something else fairly small). I haven't seen them a ton, but one might be better than Poeltl and on the same timeline as Barnes/Dick/2025 1st.

Come 2026/27, a 31 year old Poeltl needing to be extended might be a little awkward, but maybe he won't decline much till 33/34 and it'll be fine. That's 5 years from now to find a replacement, so a fair amount of time while Poeltl fills the position adequately.

And it'll be tough for NBA teams to project a draft being as bad as 2024. The next 2 are supposed to be good and who the hell knows after that? So I'd guess Poeltl's draft trade value is straight lotto protection.

[jbk1234]

Teams where Poeltl might be a trade target:

Lakers
Pelicans
Grizzlies
Rockets
Warriors
Knicks
Thunder?


I think the Rockets are a dark horse. They’re #3 in the west, and they would look very dangerous with a vet big C. Steven Adams is outgoing dead salary.

Tari Eason looks ready to start at PF, and there are Twitter rumblings of a Jabari Smith trade. If there’s a Poeltl bidding war, Rockets can put Jabari in the mix, and it might beat everyone else out.

Warriors -sure. They haven't committed real cap to a center since they gave Bogut away, but that's catching up with them. I could see a scenario where they put Kuminga on the table.

Why now, of all times, is it "catching up with us" that we haven't committed cap to a center?

Because the league has changed and Draymond is older. There are a lot of good centers in the NBA and I don't see the Warriors making it out of the West with Looney.

[MessiahUjiri]

Minority opinion: keep him.

He's got good hands, great mobility, knows where to be on both ends, above average screen-setter, above average PnR defender, good passer, good rebounder, efficient shooter, good mentor for younger players. That's a lot of positives against the single negative of no range outside the paint. That type of big man usually ages well; if he avoids major injury, he'll play at this level for another 5+ years. That's probably significantly better value than the non-lotto FRP they could get for him if the valuations in this thread are correct.

Also, Toronto doesn't need to trade him to tank this year -- injuries to a thin line-up have already taken care of that -- but they will want a functional C if they're going to become competitive sometime in the next 2-3 years, and they don't really have any young Cs in the pipeline.

I'd hold on to Poeltl this trade deadline, and reconsider at the 2026 deadline when he likely has more value, and it might be clearer if Toronto will be competitive anytime soon

I think you’re totally right, and I actually don’t expect him to be traded.

But knowing Masai, they will listen to offers and see if *someone out there* is willing to overpay.

In reality, they should just try to extend him this offseason.

[wegotthabeet]

Minority opinion: keep him.

He's got good hands, great mobility, knows where to be on both ends, above average screen-setter, above average PnR defender, good passer, good rebounder, efficient shooter, good mentor for younger players. That's a lot of positives against the single negative of no range outside the paint. That type of big man usually ages well; if he avoids major injury, he'll play at this level for another 5+ years. That's probably significantly better value than the non-lotto FRP they could get for him if the valuations in this thread are correct.

Also, Toronto doesn't need to trade him to tank this year -- injuries to a thin line-up have already taken care of that -- but they will want a functional C if they're going to become competitive sometime in the next 2-3 years, and they don't really have any young Cs in the pipeline.

I'd hold on to Poeltl this trade deadline, and reconsider at the 2026 deadline when he likely has more value, and it might be clearer if Toronto will be competitive anytime soon

Valid points, but he has a PO in 2026 basically making him an expiring contract next season.

Not convinced his value actually would increase after the 2025 deadline.

[Saul Goodman]

I say trade him. Getting another pick in 25 would be so benefical to the rebuild while also making the team bad enough to get Flagg or Bailey


Poetl

For

Gary Payton
Kevon Looney
2025 1st top 8 protected



The Raptors would have 3 picks in the 30s of the draft which Masai and Bobby can definitley find some gems

[Tripod]

I say trade him. Getting another pick in 25 would be so benefical to the rebuild while also making the team bad enough to get Flagg or Bailey


Poetl

For

Gary Payton
Kevon Looney
2025 1st top 8 protected



The Raptors would have 3 picks in the 30s of the draft which Masai and Bobby can definitley find some gems

They might even find a starting C.

[Laimbeer]

Something around Mitchell Robinson might make sense, but it's hard to see the salaries working.

[Thaddy]

Something around Mitchell Robinson might make sense, but it's hard to see the salaries working.

I don't know about that. I would guess Toronto would want some kind of replacement C. They probably don't want use Barnes as a small ball big. An optimal trade for them would be to find a contender level team that wants to compete immediately and has a raw big man.

Robinson has injury issues and the Knicks would need to add picks. I can't see that happening from NY's side.

[Texas Chuck]

This feels like a 1 year tank for the Raps and theyre not looking to sell off every vet for best offer- they gotta go- type deals. I dont think the 20th pick in the draft would be enough to get the Raps to come up off of Poeltl. Theyre still gonna need a C next year

What's the path to them being competitive next year? Obviously IQ and Barnes being on the court will help, but they are still missing that foundational piece that makes it all work. And without knowing which star might become available and want to come to this Raptors team, its hard for me to see that path.

That said, I tend to agree that Poeltl doesn't have the trade value that hard sell OP suggests and its certainly fine to keep him around even through another tough rebuilding year next year. But if some team stepped up with real value I'd absolutely trade him. Finding a veteran center on the cheap just isn't ever all that hard.

[mademan]

This feels like a 1 year tank for the Raps and theyre not looking to sell off every vet for best offer- they gotta go- type deals. I dont think the 20th pick in the draft would be enough to get the Raps to come up off of Poeltl. Theyre still gonna need a C next year

What's the path to them being competitive next year? Obviously IQ and Barnes being on the court will help, but they are still missing that foundational piece that makes it all work. And without knowing which star might become available and want to come to this Raptors team, its hard for me to see that path.

That said, I tend to agree that Poeltl doesn't have the trade value that hard sell OP suggests and its certainly fine to keep him around even through another tough rebuilding year next year. But if some team stepped up with real value I'd absolutely trade him. Finding a veteran center on the cheap just isn't ever all that hard.

Competitive as in a contender? Nothing. Competitive as in make the playoffs or even compete for HCA? With the state of the eastern conference, i dont see why that shouldnt be a goal. A young core that should get better, a legit star in Barnes and some guys with break out potential (like IQ) a top pick and multiple rotation worthy guys. I dont see why that wouldnt be the goal.

[Ell Curry]

This feels like a 1 year tank for the Raps and theyre not looking to sell off every vet for best offer- they gotta go- type deals. I dont think the 20th pick in the draft would be enough to get the Raps to come up off of Poeltl. Theyre still gonna need a C next year

What's the path to them being competitive next year? Obviously IQ and Barnes being on the court will help, but they are still missing that foundational piece that makes it all work. And without knowing which star might become available and want to come to this Raptors team, its hard for me to see that path.

That said, I tend to agree that Poeltl doesn't have the trade value that hard sell OP suggests and its certainly fine to keep him around even through another tough rebuilding year next year. But if some team stepped up with real value I'd absolutely trade him. Finding a veteran center on the cheap just isn't ever all that hard.

We might be competitive next year, it's hard to say. Not a contender or even Round 2, but 40+ wins in a weak East is possible, or it could be as low as 30 even if healthy.

1 - How good will Scottie Barnes be next year? Big difference if he's say the 25th best regular season player in the league vs the 45th. Playoff rankings differ slightly obviously (small guards mostly down, non-shooters and some centers played off the floor, things like that) but don't matter here, so even if he's callow and kind of bad in his first playoffs as more than a 19% usage guy, which seems likely, that won't affect regular season wins obviously.

2 - Does the team gel well? Poeltl is probably playing better because there's 3 wings and a PG around him and more space for him to get his floaters and layups and draw fouls. When Barnes is back that probably lowers his usage a bunch, and he's very efficient, so that might be diminishing returns. Conversely, RJ Barrett has been really inefficient while on a massive usage. After a promising half-season and good Olympics play as a 2nd or 3rd option (Brooks and Murray were 3 and 4 so lots of stretches where RJ was probably 3rd in the pecking order due to Murray's status or Brooks' self confidence), the hope was that he could become a reasonably efficient player here on cuts in an equal opportunity offence.

3- How good is the 2025 rookie? Strong draft, but huge difference between a rookie who is a solid starter and one who kills your team and both are plausible outcomes.

4 - Does the bench become a plus? Right now, I'd guess the bench is Olynyk-Mogbo-2025 Rookie-GradyDick-Mitchell, but Olynyk might be done and Mitchell might sign somewhere else. If that's the bench, then it's got a nice mix with Olynyk spreading the floor and passing, Mogbo already a solid player by advanced stats who should benefit from playing with a stretch big, a scoring wing, decent rookie and Mitchell is doing a passable job as a starter despite being ice cold from 3, so looks like he could be an average or even genuinely good backup PG (again if he an stick an open 3, the defence is great, passing is meh and he can't score otherwise, none of that is changing really).

(Assuming Poeltl-Barnes-Barrett-Agbaji-Quickley starting, but change out a wing if you want, probably a good case for RJ being the 6th man and Dick starting, or Agbaji not starting, though he's the only one who is decent on D, probably doesn't matter and is a night to night thing, and if the rookie is Flagg, he's starting, maybe true of Bailey or Demin or whoever, way too early to say, or maybe the Raptors pick 10th and it's a kid getting only 15-20 minutes a night).

[gswhoops]

I say trade him. Getting another pick in 25 would be so benefical to the rebuild while also making the team bad enough to get Flagg or Bailey


Poetl

For

Gary Payton
Kevon Looney
2025 1st top 8 protected



The Raptors would have 3 picks in the 30s of the draft which Masai and Bobby can definitley find some gems

With Melton out for the year it probably makes sense to put him in place of GP2 (which also probably needs to happen to give us enough breathing room under the apron to backfill our 14th roster spot). I assume you don't really care what the filler is here and are just looking for the pick (Melton is also expiring).

[Klomp]

Left field idea: Minnesota

It might have to be as a three-way, but for some reason I really like the idea of having a high level Gobert security blanket going forward. If you think it's a lot of money allocated to the C position, I get that, but we're also coming off two years of allocating almost double the amount to the position. There wouldn't need to be so much system variability with the defense, as Poeltl and Gobert play similar schemes. As is being discussed here, he tends to be a tougher scheme fit for some teams, so Minnesota might see it as an opportunity to get value where others don't see it, which has been a Tim Connelly staple.

I don't know if Randle would be valued in Toronto (I lean towards no), but he could be rerouted elsewhere to bring in a reserve PF for Minnesota as well (room to bring in an additional $13.5 million in salary if exchanging Randle for Poeltl).