Trade Machine: Raptors deadline deals

The Raptors are likely trading Goran Dragic and with the team looking to fill a few holes, it’s time to activate the trade machine to see what players could potentially be making their way to Toronto. Follow Yahoo Sports Canada for all your Raptors coverage.

Video Transcript

IMMAN ADAN: Actually, you know what? Let's start with a guard and a big. Let's start with one that can give you both, especially because what I look for in a guard-- I don't want to speak for you here-- is someone who can just shoot the 3. I don't need someone that's going to be super ball-dominant. I want someone who can just give us some more spacing, like maybe a two, three. I know a three is not a guard. It's a forward. But still, someone like that-- I don't mind a one.

But what about Terrence Ross, bringing back another former Raptor, similar to us wanting to bring Jak back? Mo Bamba and Terrence Ross for Goran Dragic, Malachi Flynn, and a first round pick-- this year's first round pick-- what are your thoughts on that deal?

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Is the pick protected, or is it--

IMMAN ADAN: Yes, the pick-- let's say the pick is lottery protected.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Is lottery protect-- I mean--

IMMAN ADAN: Yeah.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Yeah, from, like, a Raptors' perspective, I feel like that's a no-brainer. Because especially if you're getting those two players, you're not going to be a lottery team. You're just-- you're not going to end up being a lottery team. I think you'd probably end up pushing yourself to that fringe top six. Like, I actually think that's--

IMMAN ADAN: The Nets are falling every day.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Right, right. And every single team in the East kind of has, like, a question mark to them. So like a lot of people have been talking about, they're one win streak or one losing streak away from getting to that point, right?

So yeah, that's a great deal from the Raptors' perspective. I probably think the Magic would want a little bit more from that, maybe another pick, maybe a Boucher or something along the lines of that. But yeah, I think that's probably-- it's a great deal from the Raptors' perspective. Just from the Magic, they probably want more.

IMMAN ADAN: I agree, and I think this one kind of falls under the same vein of the Kings probably wanting more. And if you want to add something in, if you want to suggest something, this is also not a deal that I'm particularly a fan of. It's one that I've seen just bandied about with Raptor fans. And it's to get Buddy Hield and Richaun Holmes, a guy that Raptor fans have been clamoring for since, I guess, forever. I don't know. Since he was a free agent last year.

But it's for Buddy Hield and Richaun Holmes, and it includes Goran Dragic from the Raptors' side, Khem Birch, and Svi Mykhailiuk, and the 2023 first round pick. Let's throw some protections on that. But what are your thoughts on this? I saw this bandied about. I'm not the biggest fan. But I'd like to hear your take.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Yeah, I'm also not the biggest fan.

IMMAN ADAN: I just don't want to get killed. That's why I keep saying that because I don't want people to go, this is crazy. I don't like it. I just saw it.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Yeah, I mean, on top of the fact that, look, I think Richaun is-- he solves a lot of the problems. He's a versatile big. I don't think he's exactly the specific type of big that this Raptors--

IMMAN ADAN: Thank you.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: --team needs.

IMMAN ADAN: Thank you.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Look, maybe in the summer, I had a totally different opinion. But now, with the amount of bigs that they have-- they have the Preciouses, the Khems, the Bouchers of the world. Throwing in Richaun in it, it doesn't really incentivize me too much. That's it. On the Buddy Hield front, that's just way too much money for me. I don't think-- I'm good on that. So--

IMMAN ADAN: It's a big contract coming back.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Yeah.

IMMAN ADAN: And I also-- I don't think the Kings would accept it either.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Yeah, yeah, I don't think so.

IMMAN ADAN: I think the Kings are like, no. I think the Kings would say no. And from a Raptors' perspective, I just don't think Richaun is the big that the Raptors need. And if he was, they probably would have done that deal in the summertime or tried to get him in the summertime.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Yeah.

IMMAN ADAN: All right. So this next one is someone who was mentioned just yesterday, where "Time Lord" Robert Williams-- I love the nickname Time Lord. Also, he got it because he was late. I think that's literally what it came from.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Is that the story? Is that how he got it?

IMMAN ADAN: He slept in. Yeah.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Wow.

IMMAN ADAN: It was said on Zach Lowe. I might be remembering it wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was. So this deal that I've seen, once again, just sort of rumored about. I don't know if it's-- I don't think it's going to be a thing. And I really don't know what the market is for Robert Williams, but I really do like him. I'm really high on him.

So it has been reported by Jake Fischer, Bleacher Report, that the Celtics may be looking to move him. So that's where all of these rumors came from and that the Raptors have been sniffing around there. And I like him. He's got the 7' 6" wingspan. Yes, he's kind of undersized. We're kind of putting him alongside everybody else.

But he's a true center. He's not a power forward that we're turning into a center. And so I do like Robert Williams here. He's also young. And the deal that I've seen bandied about on Twitter as well includes-- and this is the only thing I could see to really make the money work-- Malachi Flynn, Chris Boucher from the Raptors for Dennis Schroder and Robert Williams.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: See, I think Time Lord is way too important to the Celtics, like, the way they view him.

IMMAN ADAN: That's what I don't understand, why they're giving him up.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: I think they're looking for-- like, they're desperate. I watched the Celtics-Hornets game last night. And I was like, I feel bad for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown because they're constantly kicking out to guys that just cannot shoot the ball. They have no shooters whatsoever.

So if the Celtics are calling and saying, hey, we'll give you Robert Williams, I think the guy they would look for is probably Gary Trent, Jr. And I think the Raptors say no, right?

IMMAN ADAN: Absolutely not.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Right? So it's just a matter of what you want versus what they want. And I don't think it's there. Outside of Jakob, Robert Williams is that dude if you're going for a center though. Absolutely. He fits the mold perfectly.

IMMAN ADAN: I agree. I wonder-- I think that-- I agree with you. I think that what the Celtics need is someone who can create for themselves as well. Because it seems like they have a lot of creation when you have Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. But as we've seen, when one of them has a bad game, the Celtics just cannot score. So just someone else who can do that, maybe coming off the bench, and also just some shooting.

But a guy like Robert Williams feels like his talent is being wasted when he does not have a point guard to get him the ball.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Yeah.

IMMAN ADAN: Like, Jayson and Jaylen are not feeding him. And yeah, so I've seen some other trades involving Marcus Smart in there. And I just don't think that that's something that'll happen because there's really no way to put in any additional money. There's no way that you include a Goran in this deal to sort of offload money from the Raptors' perspective.

There's just nothing that you can really do because the Celtics just don't have the contracts. It doesn't work outside of Marcus Smart, and I just don't see that being a thing that happens.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Yeah, I agree. And also, like, trading with the Celtics, I really don't think that ends up being a thing that happens, you know? I don't think those two are friendly when they pick up the phone with each other.

IMMAN ADAN: It also would be really weird to have a midseason, inter-division trade. I know we keep hearing about James Harden and Ben Simmons. I don't think that that's going to happen. It just feels very weird for in season to have an inter-division trade. Yes, it happened with Vince Carter and the New Jersey Nets, but--

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Against a team that-- but also against a team that you probably will end up facing in the play-in game if you end up being a play-in team, right? So I don't know. I don't think that makes sense for either side to be honest with you.

IMMAN ADAN: Now someone else who has been sort of rumored to be out there-- and it makes sense-- is Bogdan Bogdanovic. And I think the price for him has gone down only because-- well, I mean, it has to go down. He basically was stellar for the Hawks last year and has since been bad. He's missed a lot of time due to injury.

But I actually have his numbers here. I didn't realize just how poor he's been. He averaged 16 points last year on 44% 3-point shooting on over seven and a half attempts a game, which is just mind-boggling and amazing. And this year, he's down to only shooting 35% on 3 on six and a half attempts a game and averaging just 12 points.

So just a significant decline, not to mention he's been in and out of the lineup due to injuries. And I thought that's maybe why they wanted to move off of him. I knew that his numbers had dipped. I did not expect, like, a 12- or 13-point dip in his shooting percentage. So he's obviously on the market. Now is he someone that you're interested in the Raptors getting because of his ability to hypothetically space the floor?

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Also, I think the reason the Hawks want to get rid of him is just because of money. They're trying to save as much money as possible right now.

IMMAN ADAN: Yeah, for sure.

ESFANDIAR BARAHENI: So yeah, if a deal works for that, I think absolutely. And if you can find a way to address their defensive woes-- they might need a second playmaker-- you maybe call them and entice them on Malachi Flynn and sell them on the idea of, hey, he can maybe be your playmaker off of the bench. You say, hey, Chris Boucher has had this phenomenal season. He can be your weak-side rim protector. Maybe you get on the phone with them. I don't know.

IMMAN ADAN: Yeah, they'll take any of the expirings on the Raptors just to unload some of their money there. But yeah, it'll be interesting. OK, so those are some of the trades that I wanted to talk about.