Raptors Have a Chance To Grab Damian Lillard. Should They?
The Toronto Raptors are one of the teams vying for Damian Lillard.
Early in the offseason, the Portland Trailblazers’ Damian Lillard made it clear to the organization’s brass that he didn’t want to play on a team full of young players who weren’t ready to compete for a title.
The Trailblazers heard and understood their franchise player’s position.
But instead of trading their 2023 third overall draft pick for a stud who can help Lillard compete in the postseason, they used it to draft Scoot Henderson.
Lillard was displeased but knew that it was just business and didn’t take it personally.
So, he kindly asked the team’s management to trade him, preferably to the Miami Heat.
Months passed and nothing materialized between Portland and Miami. Thus, other teams jumped into the Dame sweepstakes.
One of those teams is the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors, who were 41-41 last season and missed the playoffs after losing in the Play-In Tournament, are the latest team to show interest in trading for Lillard.
But should they?
Should The Raptors Try to Acquire Dame?
Lillard is still an elite player who averaged 32.2 points on 46 percent shooting, 7.3 assists, and 4.8 rebounds last season.
But he’s an older player and hasn’t played a full season since 2018-19 (he also played 67 out of 72 games in the shortened 2020-21 season).
Last year, he played 58 games.
To attain the superstar, the Raptors would have to give up multiple good players to match his $45.6 million contract (most likely a combination of O.G. Anunoby and Gary Trent, Jr., Thaddeus Young, or Chris Boucher) and draft picks to match his value (2026, 2028, and/or 2030).
Essentially, they’ll have to give up much of their future for Dame, whose agent said he’ll be “unhappy” with any team not named Miami Heat.
So, is it worth it to trade for him?
If I were the Raptors’ GM, I wouldn’t do it.
Dame is, obviously, still very good. But I wouldn’t sacrifice youth and the future of the team for someone who will most likely ask to be traded in a year or so (he still has four more years on his contract, with the final year being a player option) or be disgruntled the whole time.
I would rather keep my young players and develop them.
Additionally, the Raptors didn’t even play poorly last season. They were a disappointment in that they underachieved, but they didn’t do that badly.
They just needed to make some changes to spruce up the roster and system, which they did by firing Nick Nurse and bringing on Darko Rajaković, and signing Dennis Schroder and Jalen McDaniels.
They also drafted sharpshooter Gradey Dick for more perimeter shooting and brought back Jakob Poetl to man the paint.
Would you make the trade for Dame?
Final Thoughts
Damian Lillard is elite.
But as good as he is, he’s not worth a handful of good young players with high potential and first-round draft picks, especially since he’s 33.