Ja Morant

[Son Goku 25]

If IQ can play like yesterday I'd be happy keeping him the problem is that hes probably not going to either due to inconsistency or injuries and go back to being soft.

[MoneyBall]

IQ+Ochai+FRP to ATL

Trae to Mem

Ja to Tor

Read on Twitter

Thoughts?

Atl plays better without Trae, they get a PG that can play off-ball, hit 3s and comfortable to come off the bench if need be. And a decent 3&D wing. And FRP (could be another year if not '26)

Mem doesn't want to go full rebuild, Trae is more comfortable playing the way the Finnish HC wants and will bring butts to the seats

Tor gets an upgrade, a North-South threat to create more rim pressure, will also enchance the rollers efficiency.

As a hot take I predicted over the summer the Hawks would trade Trea this season (maybe the end of this season).

Personally, I'd rather keep Trae than to flip him for Morant. Trea/Scottie duo would look really good I think. Not sure how Barrett fits on the team though unless you have him come off the bench.

[CPT]

The Bill Simmons suggested trade is actually IQ + CMB + a pick, which I would very much not do.

[dTox]

What organization the player plays for also matters. BI having to play on a trash Pelicans team was a big negative. Memphis is also a couple tiera below the Raptors as an organization, so I'd be interested in seeing him with us. Helping a player improve behaviour is easier than improving talent.

Are they? Memphis has made the playoffs 11 of the last 15 years. Wow 48, 51, and 55 games in the last 3 seasons they were not intentionally tanking.

He almost had it right, instead of blaming the organization, as the terrible environment that fostered the bad behaviour, he should have blamed the irresponsible father who is living out his alcoholic celebrity dad life by leveraging his son's fame. Good luck if you think an employer can remove a dad's influence from his son by bringing him here. Hard pass. The Grizz have been a winning org for vast majority of their seasons for over 20 years, going from the Paul Gasol>Marc / Conley > Ja Morant years. With a few relapse seasons here and there. The org is fine, and ran better than most people think. Ja is just a pain in the ass to deal with

[JB7]

Well, we need a pg - we don't really need a PF. But that aside, the whole point of going after JA is that he's a depressed asset at the moment and we can take a gamble on him for cheap.

With Lauri, Ainge is probably asking for 5 1sts.

Raps have enough ball handlers. They need more shooting, to open up the floor more.

And as usual, Ainge has waited to long to make a deal and screwed himself. Everyone knows he wants to tank for a high pick in this draft (they want AJ). So he'll be forced to sell low, so that Markkanen doesn't inflate their win totals.

This summer he traded a draft pick along with Sexton to the Hornets for nothing, just to move Sexton.

Raps will also need to include BI in the deal, for salary matching. So Utah would be getting talent back that it could move for other assets. I could see a three way deal where BI ends up with the Cavs, Garland goes to Utah (along with some other assets from the Raps - Ochai (expiring), Gradey?, Mogbo?) & Raps get Markkanen.

With Garland's injury history, Utah would have no problem shutting him down for the year to aid the tank.

I like markkanen. Please stop blowing up our team just to get him, especially when our depth is in big wings.

If we can get Lauri for scraps, cool. Since it’s ainge and that is unlikely, this feels worse than trading for Ja.

The whole purpose of a consolidation trade is to move excess depth for superior talent. And in any deal, salaries need to be matched.

The team doesn’t have enough minutes for everyone. They are playing all of their starters 32mins (which is great, to not wear them out), and even still can’t get any minutes for Ochai or Mogbo, and have minimal minutes for Dick, Battle & Walter.

They are not resigning Ochai, there is no room for Mogbo with CMB here, BI was always a talent acquisition for a potential future trade, and who would you rather the team retain, Gradey or RJ?

Trading BI, Dick, Mogbo & Ochai for Markkanen gets them below the tax, removes future contract pressures, and creates space on the roster for future draft picks, all while creating a clean 10 man rotation (Yak, Markkanen, Barnes, RJ, IQ starters, and on the bench Mamu, CMB, Battle, Walter & Shead). Both CMB and Walter are on rookie deals for awhile, so no worry about their salaries. And room has been created to resign Mamu to a bit more money next year, where he has a player option.

[Merit]

Raps have enough ball handlers. They need more shooting, to open up the floor more.

And as usual, Ainge has waited to long to make a deal and screwed himself. Everyone knows he wants to tank for a high pick in this draft (they want AJ). So he'll be forced to sell low, so that Markkanen doesn't inflate their win totals.

This summer he traded a draft pick along with Sexton to the Hornets for nothing, just to move Sexton.

Raps will also need to include BI in the deal, for salary matching. So Utah would be getting talent back that it could move for other assets. I could see a three way deal where BI ends up with the Cavs, Garland goes to Utah (along with some other assets from the Raps - Ochai (expiring), Gradey?, Mogbo?) & Raps get Markkanen.

With Garland's injury history, Utah would have no problem shutting him down for the year to aid the tank.

I like markkanen. Please stop blowing up our team just to get him, especially when our depth is in big wings.

If we can get Lauri for scraps, cool. Since it’s ainge and that is unlikely, this feels worse than trading for Ja.

The whole purpose of a consolidation trade is to move excess depth for superior talent. And in any deal, salaries need to be matched.

The team doesn’t have enough minutes for everyone. They are playing all of their starters 32mins (which is great, to not wear them out), and even still can’t get any minutes for Ochai or Mogbo, and have minimal minutes for Dick, Battle & Walter.

They are not resigning Ochai, there is no room for Mogbo with CMB here, BI was always a talent acquisition for a potential future trade, and who would you rather the team retain, Gradey or RJ?

Trading BI, Dick, Mogbo & Ochai for Markkanen gets them below the tax, removes future contract pressures, and creates space on the roster for future draft picks, all while creating a clean 10 man rotation (Yak, Markkanen, Barnes, RJ, IQ starters, and on the bench Mamu, CMB, Battle, Walter & Shead). Both CMB and Walter are on rookie deals for awhile, so no worry about their salaries. And room has been created to resign Mamu to a bit more money next year, where he has a player option.

We have a fundamental difference between BI who you consider to be “depth” and who I consider to be a core player. BI is a core player. His shot creation is necessary. Lauri brings shooting, but trading BI for Laurie means we’re back at square one again searching for a player who can “get a bucket”.

We are not trading BI who we have under contract for two more years to get Markkanen, who plays the same position as Barnes.

We are not trading IQ for Markkanen, as we would need a PG in return.

We are not trading Barnes for Markkanen.

We could potentially trade RJ for Markkanen, but I doubt RJ gets traded any time soon given he’s both from Toronto and has consistently improved and adjusted to work with the teammates he’s presented with.

Just because you have a premise for your trade and like the player, doesn’t mean it makes sense for the Raptors to blow up their team to accommodate.

[LoveMyRaps]

The Bill Simmons suggested trade is actually IQ + CMB + a pick, which I would very much not do.

Massive overpay.

[Saul Goodman]

The Bill Simmons suggested trade is actually IQ + CMB + a pick, which I would very much not do.

Massive overpay.

Because of the risk of bad fit I’d rather throw 2 1sts and a swap Gradey dick and Walter for Morant.
CMB is already a plus player at 20

[PhilBlackson]

The Bill Simmons suggested trade is actually IQ + CMB + a pick, which I would very much not do.

Massive overpay.

Because of the risk of bad fit I’d rather throw 2 1sts and a swap Gradey dick and Walter for Morant.
CMB is already a plus player at 20

CMB is completely off the table....and personally I'm not doing 2 picks either.

If this is Ja from a couple of years ago, absolutely! But right now he looks like a lesser version of that.

The optimist might want to hope that maybe it's more the case he's "lost his joy"/doesn't want to be there and/or Alex can get him back to that level. But that's all just "hope". In reality he looks like the injuries have taken at least a bit of a step from him. So he can still be a REALLY good guard but idk if that "special"/franchise level player is there anymore without the special athleticism...maybe it is and just needs time but I'm waiting on it.

Nonetheless he would still be an upgrade over IQ buuuut of course there's the HUGE amount of off-court bs and question of his character. This isn't a franchise questioning the degenerative knees/legit gripe of Kawhi's character -- this is punch a teenager in the face, point guns at the Pacers & get high while self incriminating with a gun type of questionable character. Maaaaybe a more mature franchise/teammates, with a coach that has a good personal relationship can curtail that but that's a HUGE risk! Who knows how it could turn out if he has another injury and looses even more athleticism. What if Ja isn't happy with our ball movement offence and wants to remain "relevant" as an "all-star" first?! Nvm the Lord knows what type of goofiness he might get involved in ie/ with a dummy like Top 5 etc, who knows lol but I can't rule it out either.

But there's a TON of risk we're assuming, so yeah I'll give a pick at most for a likely upgrade with some potential to be a major one but I'm not paying you for yesterday's production with 2 picks or anything close to that. To be clear, personally I rather NOT do the deal, add whoever our 26' pick is and either they help us develop even more or they're used in a different trade some day but if we do a deal for Ja it's ONE pick and their choice of Gradey or JKW tops imo - non negotiable.

[HangTime]

Most I'd do is
IQ + Gradey + Ochai + a pick
For
Ja and salary filler (maybe a big from a 3rd team)

[Raps in 4]

IQ+Ochai+FRP to ATL

Trae to Mem

Ja to Tor

Read on Twitter

Thoughts?

Atl plays better without Trae, they get a PG that can play off-ball, hit 3s and comfortable to come off the bench if need be. And a decent 3&D wing. And FRP (could be another year if not '26)

Mem doesn't want to go full rebuild, Trae is more comfortable playing the way the Finnish HC wants and will bring butts to the seats

Tor gets an upgrade, a North-South threat to create more rim pressure, will also enchance the rollers efficiency.

Terrible trade for the Raptors. I'm not sure why we'd trade IQ+CMB+FRP to Atlanta for Ja when we could just trade that package to Atlanta for Trae, who is a better player than Ja. I'm not sure why he even included us in the trade.

[djsunyc]

The Bill Simmons suggested trade is actually IQ + CMB + a pick, which I would very much not do.

Massive overpay.

it was weird because bill proposed the idea then said he wouldn't do it if he was the raptors - he wants some more time to see what we have here.

[LascelleL]

I honestly dont think it would be wise for Bobby to bring in a head case like Morant. Darko is still trying to find his groove and voice as an NBA Headcoach and i feel like Ja wold clash with the personalities on the team

[JB7]

I like markkanen. Please stop blowing up our team just to get him, especially when our depth is in big wings.

If we can get Lauri for scraps, cool. Since it’s ainge and that is unlikely, this feels worse than trading for Ja.

The whole purpose of a consolidation trade is to move excess depth for superior talent. And in any deal, salaries need to be matched.

The team doesn’t have enough minutes for everyone. They are playing all of their starters 32mins (which is great, to not wear them out), and even still can’t get any minutes for Ochai or Mogbo, and have minimal minutes for Dick, Battle & Walter.

They are not resigning Ochai, there is no room for Mogbo with CMB here, BI was always a talent acquisition for a potential future trade, and who would you rather the team retain, Gradey or RJ?

Trading BI, Dick, Mogbo & Ochai for Markkanen gets them below the tax, removes future contract pressures, and creates space on the roster for future draft picks, all while creating a clean 10 man rotation (Yak, Markkanen, Barnes, RJ, IQ starters, and on the bench Mamu, CMB, Battle, Walter & Shead). Both CMB and Walter are on rookie deals for awhile, so no worry about their salaries. And room has been created to resign Mamu to a bit more money next year, where he has a player option.

We have a fundamental difference between BI who you consider to be “depth” and who I consider to be a core player. BI is a core player. His shot creation is necessary. Lauri brings shooting, but trading BI for Laurie means we’re back at square one again searching for a player who can “get a bucket”.

We are not trading BI who we have under contract for two more years to get Markkanen, who plays the same position as Barnes.

We are not trading IQ for Markkanen, as we would need a PG in return.

We are not trading Barnes for Markkanen.

We could potentially trade RJ for Markkanen, but I doubt RJ gets traded any time soon given he’s both from Toronto and has consistently improved and adjusted to work with the teammates he’s presented with.

Just because you have a premise for your trade and like the player, doesn’t mean it makes sense for the Raptors to blow up their team to accommodate.

BI and Barnes are not a long term fit. BI was a great pick up because they got him at a very low price, they are rebuilding his value, and hopefully can turn that value into a player that better compliments Barnes, because I don’t think they are moving Barnes in the short term.

In terms of scoring, that is what Markkanen does. Surrounding Barnes with two volume 3pt shooters in Markkanen and IQ, combined with RJ’s improved 3pt shooting, starts to look a lot more promising.

BI only has two guaranteed years, this year and next. Third year is a player option. So if they are going to move him, better to do it sooner rather than later, when his expiring deal could lower his value. BI is still looking for that max deal.

[Merit]

The whole purpose of a consolidation trade is to move excess depth for superior talent. And in any deal, salaries need to be matched.

The team doesn’t have enough minutes for everyone. They are playing all of their starters 32mins (which is great, to not wear them out), and even still can’t get any minutes for Ochai or Mogbo, and have minimal minutes for Dick, Battle & Walter.

They are not resigning Ochai, there is no room for Mogbo with CMB here, BI was always a talent acquisition for a potential future trade, and who would you rather the team retain, Gradey or RJ?

Trading BI, Dick, Mogbo & Ochai for Markkanen gets them below the tax, removes future contract pressures, and creates space on the roster for future draft picks, all while creating a clean 10 man rotation (Yak, Markkanen, Barnes, RJ, IQ starters, and on the bench Mamu, CMB, Battle, Walter & Shead). Both CMB and Walter are on rookie deals for awhile, so no worry about their salaries. And room has been created to resign Mamu to a bit more money next year, where he has a player option.

We have a fundamental difference between BI who you consider to be “depth” and who I consider to be a core player. BI is a core player. His shot creation is necessary. Lauri brings shooting, but trading BI for Laurie means we’re back at square one again searching for a player who can “get a bucket”.

We are not trading BI who we have under contract for two more years to get Markkanen, who plays the same position as Barnes.

We are not trading IQ for Markkanen, as we would need a PG in return.

We are not trading Barnes for Markkanen.

We could potentially trade RJ for Markkanen, but I doubt RJ gets traded any time soon given he’s both from Toronto and has consistently improved and adjusted to work with the teammates he’s presented with.

Just because you have a premise for your trade and like the player, doesn’t mean it makes sense for the Raptors to blow up their team to accommodate.

BI and Barnes are not a long term fit. BI was a great pick up because they got him at a very low price, they are rebuilding his value, and hopefully can turn that value into a player that better compliments Barnes, because I don’t think they are moving Barnes in the short term.

In terms of scoring, that is what Markkanen does. Surrounding Barnes with two volume 3pt shooters in Markkanen and IQ, combined with RJ’s improved 3pt shooting, starts to look a lot more promising.

BI only has two guaranteed years, this year and next. Third year is a player option. So if they are going to move him, better to do it sooner rather than later, when his expiring deal could lower his value. BI is still looking for that max deal.

Have you been watching the games this season? Have you considered optics? Have you considered stability?

Stranger things have happened, but BI is amazing for us and has opened our offense in a way that we needed. We do not need Lauri. If Lauri was a Center and could shoot - then maybe. Even then, we have Jak starting. Why disrupt everything the team has built, including chemistry for a player whose archetype we have (admittedly to a lesser extent) in Mamu?

BI is a long term fit. BI compliments Barnes really well. I like Lauri as a player, but you’re reaching to get him here.

[Stromile12]

No shot we bring in Morant

[OhCanada]

The Bill Simmons suggested trade is actually IQ + CMB + a pick, which I would very much not do.

Yeah CMB is gonna be a legit 2 way player for a very long time. If Morant works out its fine but the deals just too risky to give away a core peice on the first year of his rookie contract.

[JB7]

We have a fundamental difference between BI who you consider to be “depth” and who I consider to be a core player. BI is a core player. His shot creation is necessary. Lauri brings shooting, but trading BI for Laurie means we’re back at square one again searching for a player who can “get a bucket”.

We are not trading BI who we have under contract for two more years to get Markkanen, who plays the same position as Barnes.

We are not trading IQ for Markkanen, as we would need a PG in return.

We are not trading Barnes for Markkanen.

We could potentially trade RJ for Markkanen, but I doubt RJ gets traded any time soon given he’s both from Toronto and has consistently improved and adjusted to work with the teammates he’s presented with.

Just because you have a premise for your trade and like the player, doesn’t mean it makes sense for the Raptors to blow up their team to accommodate.

BI and Barnes are not a long term fit. BI was a great pick up because they got him at a very low price, they are rebuilding his value, and hopefully can turn that value into a player that better compliments Barnes, because I don’t think they are moving Barnes in the short term.

In terms of scoring, that is what Markkanen does. Surrounding Barnes with two volume 3pt shooters in Markkanen and IQ, combined with RJ’s improved 3pt shooting, starts to look a lot more promising.

BI only has two guaranteed years, this year and next. Third year is a player option. So if they are going to move him, better to do it sooner rather than later, when his expiring deal could lower his value. BI is still looking for that max deal.

Have you been watching the games this season? Have you considered optics? Have you considered stability?

Stranger things have happened, but BI is amazing for us and has opened our offense in a way that we needed. We do not need Lauri. If Lauri was a Center and could shoot - then maybe. Even then, we have Jak starting. Why disrupt everything the team has built, including chemistry for a player whose archetype we have (admittedly to a lesser extent) in Mamu?

BI is a long term fit. BI compliments Barnes really well. I like Lauri as a player, but you’re reaching to get him here.

I wouldn't say BI compliments Barnes really well. They both seem to be at their best when one of them is off the floor, which allows the one on the floor to be the primary ball handler, and leads me to believe eventually BI could be moved. BI has definitely helped. Adding talent for relatively nothing just elevates the overall team play, and there is less of a drop off when Barnes leaves the floor. Plus BI is much better at scoring in ISO situations.

Lauri is 7ft and 240lbs. He could play a bit of C if needed, and he could play PF for the team, allowing Barnes to roam more at the SF position. He would be a better fit next to Scottie. Mamu has done so well because he compliments the other players on the roster, like Barnes. In Lauri, the team would be getting a star level player that compliments the other players in this way.

This team is going to make a trade at some point. This roster is far from perfect. It is just finding the right consolidation trade.

[PushDaRock]

The Bill Simmons suggested trade is actually IQ + CMB + a pick, which I would very much not do.

lol what an insane trade to even suggest

[Edumacated]

Between Markannen and Ingram, I'll take the better defensive player.