I'm highly skeptical that the Raptors maximized this asset. Even if you take out the aspect that there were better times in the past to sell, they likely could have waited it out until closer to the deadline and tried to get the Pacers to flinch.
I don't hate the idea of trading for a pick-heavy package here. I think the OG trade will turn out to be fantastic, and then being able to have a number of rookie contracts in the rotation makes it easier to build a deep roster and put together a trade for an additional impact player a couple years down the line when this core is getting into their prime.
Like if you view the Siakam and OG for:
Quickley, Barrett, Nwora, Lewis, 3 FRPs, one early SRP, and whatever they get as a return for Brown in a likely additional trade, (maybe an additional future FRP and expiring filler), a $10m TPE and $1.3m TPE (how I think it will be organized as this deal is completed)...
That's okay as a combination of moves. It's a huge vote of confidence in Darko's ability to develop players, and makes sense for this coaching staff that is loaded with development expertise.
It probably makes sense to firesale the rest of the vets now: Schroder, Boucher, Thad, OPJ all have value to playoff teams and are on easy-to-move, short-term contracts. GTJ... see what the market is, but he could probably be retained cheap in the offseason and if not, it's not a big loss. Poeltl... probably keep him because it sucks trying to develop guys without a competent center. They probably get a high draft pick this year or next, so treat the next year as just a big development project and then set sights on starting to move up the standings in the 2025-26 season.
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