Just like that, the NBA season is in its second half, the All-Star Game is only three weeks away, and the playoffs are less than three months away. It’s that time in the campaign when GMs scour all the corners of the league in hopes of finding amicable trades with rival teams to bolster each party’s agendas.
The most recent noteworthy transaction was between the Eastern Conference outfits Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets. The Heat decided to move on from veteran point guard Kyle Lowry in exchange for Terry Rozier.
But Masai Ujiri and the Toronto Raptors made the most pivotal transactions thus far. The team from the North emerged as the biggest sellers this season, as they parted ways with two of the remaining key contributors from the 2019 championship squad, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam.
With that, read more below for an in-depth encapsulation of the recent transactions before the forthcoming trade deadline and what it means for the teams involved.
New York Knicks
Right before 2023 ended, the league witnessed a rare December trade that had basketball fans, this SBOTOP writer included, questioning if the transaction would move the needle for any of the teams involved.
That said, the trade was between the Atlantic Division rivals, the Toronto Raptors and the New York Knicks. The details of the trade are as follows: The Knicks send RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a 2024 second-round pick to Toronto in exchange for OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa, and Malachi Flynn.
No offence to Achiuwa and Flynn, but the centerpiece of the trade is OG Anunoby.
The Raptors have been shopping the 26-year-old for a couple of seasons now, and it’s the Knicks who won the OG sweepstakes. His elite defence and ability to space the floor for Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson are just music to Tom Thibodeau’s ears. OG’s fit in 66-year-old’s system was never in question, as the entire basketball world knows that Thibs only trusts players who can play defence, and Anunoby does that at an elite level.
Since acquiring the Indiana Hoosiers standout, the Knicks clicked like clockwork, winning 11 of their 13 games and are currently on a six-game winning streak, making them the hottest team in the league and one of the NBA 2024 odds favourite to make it out in the East.
The Knickerbockers have improved from 17-15 to 28-17 since making the trade for OG, placing them neatly in fourth place in the East, just five games back from the top-seeded Boston Celtics. This improvement alone makes them the biggest pre-trade deadline winners this season thus far.
Indiana Pacers
Another Raptors trading partner this season, the Indiana Pacers, seemed to have plugged in the missing piece to their roster in exchange for a bunch of draft picks and expiring contracts.
Earlier this month, Raptors GM Masai Ujiri continued his rebuild and sold their All-Star forward, Pascal Siakam, to the Indiana Pacers along with a future second-round pick for Bruce Brown, Kira Lewis, Jordan Nwora, two 2024 first-round picks, and a conditional 2026 first-rounder to boot.
Kira Lewis, who was brought into the mix by the Pelicans, put New Orleans in position to get below the luxury tax threshold and allowed Indiana to match Siakam’s salary without including another player.
Like the OG trade, this came in a little too late for the Raptors, giving up Siakam, who is still in his prime, without getting any promising players in return.
Indiana were stern in keeping their young talents, Jalen Smith, Bennedict Mathurin, Obi Toppin, and even Buddy Hield. To get a player of Siakam’s cailbre without giving up any pivotal pieces on their current roster seems too good to be true, yet Pacers GM Chad Buchanan pulled it off.
Now the Pacers have a core of Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner, and Pascal Siakam, with a supporting cast of Hield, Mathurin, Smith, and Jackson, to name a few.
The only thing in question now for Rick Carlisle and his team’s success is if their All-Star floor general, Haliburton, can stay healthy and lead the Pacers to strong NBA 2024 results and cap it off with a deep playoff run.
Toronto Raptors
The current rebuild of the Toronto Raptors has been a long time coming. After the departure of Kawhi Leonard as a free agent in 2019, Masai Ujiri and Nick Nurse wanted to run it back and go for another title run, which unfortunately never transpired.
They tried to make it work with their proven core of Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, Kyle Lowry, and Pascal Siakam, but when Ujiri finally waved the white flag, it was already too late.
They traded Lowry for Goran Dragic, who is out of the league, and Precious Achiuwa from the Heat. They also held onto FVV, who walked during free agency, getting nothing in return. And their most recent transaction was former All-Star Pascal Siakam, who was traded to the Pacers for, well, second-rounders and expiring contracts.
Rebuilding is always a tough sight, but amidst the heavy-hearted trades, they did get two pieces that pose as good cornerstones for a rebuilding team: Immanuel Quickley and Mississauga’s finest, RJ Barrett.
In exchange for OG Anunoby, the Raps get Barret and Quickley, which so far is the best return Ujiri has gotten for any of his former starters.
At first glance, the obvious takeaway is that Maple Mamba, RJ Barrett, would have the opportunity to play for his home fans in Canada, which could boost his morale and ultimately transcend his game into one of the best wings in the NBA.
To Barret’s defence, he did see an uptick in his field goal and free throw percentages, points, rebounds, and assists since the trade. Not to mention, Quickley, who now starts for the Raptors, was considered the X factor of the trade and would be a great addition to a young, developing team.
The Raps are 4-9 since the trade, but both Barrett and Quickly found themselves in the right position to grow and develop. And with Scottie Barnes, the Raptors could be a problem in the future.
All Raptors fans could do now is hope that Barnes, Barrett, and Quickley develop into All-Stars while keeping their fingers crossed that they’ll strike gold with their newly acquired draft picks.
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