RJ Barrett + 2nd for KCP + Protected 1st

[Bentley1225]

Ill offer this idea for:
-Raptors to get under tax threshold and get a protected 1st for Barrett as they allocated more mins for Dick and Walter
-Grizzlies get a starting calibre SG in using one of the 1sts acquired by dealing Bane

To Memphis
-RJ Barrett (2 years, $57.3 million)
-2026 Lakers 2nd round pick

To Toronto
-Kentavious-Caldwell Pope (2 years, $43.2 million)
-2026 Magic 1st round pick (lottery protected or extinguished)

Memphis lands a SG/SF entering his prime years with same age of Morant and Jackson as they re-tool. They are far enough under tax apron to take on further money

Toronto gets far enough under tax threshold and picks up a lottery protected 1st in upcoming draft at the expense of dealing Lakers 2nd. This creates more salary flexibility for this year and next as Raptors save $8 million for 2026-27 season assuming KCP exercises his player option.

[SkyHook]

I'm not convinced that Barrett on his contract is more valuable than Caldwell-Pope is on his. I think the Grizzlies pass here.

[tsherkin]

So this is essentially Toronto giving up their only rim pressure for a low-volume C+S guy and a non-lottery pick. That seems... a poor decision for the Raptors.

[Skybox]

I like KCP next to Ja (and keeping the pick and the cap space)...also that 26 frp has huge upside with the swap rights that went with it. It was the single most valuable piece ORL sent in the pile of stuff for Bane.


The reports of KCP's demise have been greatly exaggerated. He looked really good last season. The shooting took a huge dip - but LITERALLY everyone on the ORL roster pitched their worst 3pt shooting season at the same time...I think it's reasonable to say it was largely due to the nonexistent offensive scheme ORL relied on last year - which resulted in unlimited Iso's for Paolo & Franz and the rest of the team hoisting desperate 3's at the end of the shot clock. KCP is still a very formidable player, particularly on the defensive end. His acquisition didn't make a lot of sense for ORL, but he's a good player.

[Godaddycurse]

I'm not convinced that Barrett on his contract is more valuable than Caldwell-Pope is on his. I think the Grizzlies pass here.

yea memphis would only consider this mid season if barrett continues to improve and kcp doesnt return to form, though at that point the pick(s) involved may be different and/or toronto wouldnt have interest. Both teams goes into the season with what they have for now.

[gswhoops]

I'm not convinced that Barrett on his contract is more valuable than Caldwell-Pope is on his. I think the Grizzlies pass here.

Agreed, and certainly in the specific context of the Grizzlies who need an offball 3&D guy like KCP a lot more than an on ball creator/driver

[Godaddycurse]

I'm not convinced that Barrett on his contract is more valuable than Caldwell-Pope is on his. I think the Grizzlies pass here.

Agreed, and certainly in the specific context of the Grizzlies who need an offball 3&D guy like KCP a lot more than an on ball creator/driver

disagree with the latter part; I think they need to replace the secondary playmaking void that bane trade created. maybe that could be Jerome but ideally it's with a 2 way player/someone better than last year's version of Barrett. Coward/Konchar/Wells are all in house 3/D options. I think KCP is kinda superfluous on that team.

[oldncreaky]

I'm not convinced that Barrett on his contract is more valuable than Caldwell-Pope is on his. I think the Grizzlies pass here.

Agreed, and certainly in the specific context of the Grizzlies who need an offball 3&D guy like KCP a lot more than an on ball creator/driver

disagree with the latter part; I think they need to replace the secondary playmaking void that bane trade created. maybe that could be Jerome but ideally it's with a 2 way player/someone better than last year's version of Barrett. Coward/Konchar/Wells are all in house 3/D options. I think KCP is kinda superfluous on that team.

Good points. We seem to have a growing theme of teams with a ball-dominant PG having trouble finding/keeping secondary playmaking. Off the top of my head: DET has Cade and has struggled with secondary creation every year; NYK has Brunson, and shipped off their best secondary guy (DDV) to fill another critical need last summer; MEM has Ja, and now has the same issue after moving Bane for financial reasons.

On the OP, I agree with you that neither team is doing this or anything like it before the season. If the Raptors make a trade strictly to shave a $1M off the salary sheet it will occur at the TDL with whoever isn't in the Raptors plans for next year. I also think that, while RJB has his issues, KCP is beyond redundant on a Raptors roster that has literally 12 of 18 players who can play the SG/wing position.

[psman2]

Wouldn't do this even without the 1st. I am dumfounded with the value some have on RJ. This is not to say that KCP has a lot of value, but he is the vet influence we need while we see if our youth can step up, RJ is the exact opposite of what we need right now.

[cgf]

I think Toronto benefits from RJ's creation / rim-pressure a lot more than a protected FRP & whatever KCP can still give them...especially with BI being such a pull-up specialist and IQ's struggles getting all of the way to the rim; though his floater game compensates for that to some extent.

[cgf]

Agreed, and certainly in the specific context of the Grizzlies who need an offball 3&D guy like KCP a lot more than an on ball creator/driver

disagree with the latter part; I think they need to replace the secondary playmaking void that bane trade created. maybe that could be Jerome but ideally it's with a 2 way player/someone better than last year's version of Barrett. Coward/Konchar/Wells are all in house 3/D options. I think KCP is kinda superfluous on that team.

Good points. We seem to have a growing theme of teams with a ball-dominant PG having trouble finding/keeping secondary playmaking. Off the top of my head: DET has Cade and has struggled with secondary creation every year; NYK has Brunson, and shipped off their best secondary guy (DDV) to fill another critical need last summer; MEM has Ja, and now has the same issue after moving Bane for financial reasons.

On the OP, I agree with you that neither team is doing this or anything like it before the season. If the Raptors make a trade strictly to shave a $1M off the salary sheet it will occur at the TDL with whoever isn't in the Raptors plans for next year. I also think that, while RJB has his issues, KCP is beyond redundant on a Raptors roster that has literally 12 of 18 players who can play the SG/wing position.

Just want to clarify that Randle was by far our best non-Brunson creator. Donte was probably behind Hart as well as BRundle in our creaation hierarchy; it was his franchise record number of 3s that we missed most from Donte...especially off of Juju's drives...

[QMemphis]

Unless CMB is included and RJ can be flipped Derozan not a good fit. Grizz view Wells/Coward as the wings of the future with an outside shot of GG and Vince getting leftover minutes. Grizz likely have no interest in RJ for a number of reasons so I doubt we pay to get him.

[One_and_Done]

I'm not convinced that Barrett on his contract is more valuable than Caldwell-Pope is on his. I think the Grizzlies pass here.

Agreed. RJ isn't even worth this much.

[babyjax13]

I think both Toronto and Memphis should prefer KCP to RJ. RJ and Ingram are pretty redundant, I think KCP would look very nice on that team playing off their ball handlers.

[Godaddycurse]

I think both Toronto and Memphis should prefer KCP to RJ. RJ and Ingram are pretty redundant, I think KCP would look very nice on that team playing off their ball handlers.

KCP is redundant with the other gazillion SGs we have.
RJ at least offers playmaking and rim pressure which the other SGs dont do. If its a choice between who we want on the court it would be RJ over KCP. (Technically for me it would be Agbaji over both of them)

[babyjax13]

I think both Toronto and Memphis should prefer KCP to RJ. RJ and Ingram are pretty redundant, I think KCP would look very nice on that team playing off their ball handlers.

KCP is redundant with the other gazillion SGs we have.
RJ at least offers playmaking and rim pressure which the other SGs dont do. If its a choice between who we want on the court it would be RJ over KCP. (Technically for me it would be Agbaji over both of them)

I think he is really only redundant with Agbaji, the rest are not plus defenders. But Toronto really needs to decide what they are trying to do. If it is win, then I think Dick needs to go. Walter looks like he might have some defensive acumen in the future and could slowly replace KCP's minutes if they traded for him. I don't think an Agbaji/KCP/Walter SG rotation would be that bad, especially for a team with a lot of high-usage players.

RE rim pressure, I think they'll have that from other sources, but we will see. The lack of spacing could really make that difficult.

[BigGargamel]

I'm not convinced that Barrett on his contract is more valuable than Caldwell-Pope is on his. I think the Grizzlies pass here.

I'm not the biggest RJ fan in the world but this is just disrespectful and false. KCP is nearly done and making wayyyyyyyy more than he's worth.

Edit: Guess I'm on my own in this thread. Convinced people still think KCP is the 2023 version. He's fallen off hard ans might not even be rotation worthy next year.

[UnbelievablyRAW]

No point in Barrett trade conversations until after the season starts. His value is low with how crap the Raptors have been and no one cares that he had to play a lot with bench players and rookies because starters were in and out for more than half of last season.

If he's able to replicate his Olympic production in a reduced role and the Raptors are winning, his trade value will swing heavily the other way. Player perception can change in 2-3 months

[redslastlaugh]

I think Toronto would have to give second round picks to entice Memphis to take RJ for KCP ... Even then, Barrett is more money and his value I think is lower than is commonly known

I'm not convinced that Barrett on his contract is more valuable than Caldwell-Pope is on his. I think the Grizzlies pass here.

[oldncreaky]

No point in Barrett trade conversations until after the season starts. His value is low with how crap the Raptors have been and no one cares that he had to play a lot with bench players and rookies because starters were in and out for more than half of last season.

If he's able to replicate his Olympic production in a reduced role and the Raptors are winning, his trade value will swing heavily the other way. Player perception can change in 2-3 months

1000% this

If RJ Barrett's value at the deadline is similar to what non-Raptor fans project in this (and other) threads, the smart play for TOR is to keep him -- if he is viewed as a negative by other teams, he will be far less expensive to move next off-season, or even at the 2027 TDL. If, however, RJ plays how has on Canada's MNT the last couple of summers and it translates to winning, he'll quickly flip to a positive asset.

As for various posters proclaiming about what is or isn't on the roster, and slotting in what players are or will become, or who can provide rim pressure I just got to point out that:
-- we literally have not seen the 5 starters play together, ever -- and they're the only guys on the roster with any kind of NBA track record
-- there are 13 players 25 and under on the Raptors 18-man roster, with only Scottie, RJ and Agbaji having played more than a couple thousand minutes in their NBA careers
-- most of the minutes by last year's rookies (5 of them!) were for a team that was either crippled by injuries in the first half, or blatantly tanking in the second half

It's hard to make confident projections about TOR. I don't assume good stats while tanking will translate, but I also don't assume that bad stats from playing in fractured/inexperienced line ups will translate either. Sometimes you just have to wait and see how the first half of the season goes-- and figure out how to shave $1M of the salary sheet after that.