Nick Wosika-USA TODAY Sports
OG Anunoby’s name has been coming up in NBA trade rumors but the Toronto Raptors seem to know exactly how much leverage they have.
OG Anunoby’s name was a surprise to see popping in trade rumors a few weeks ago, with reports that he might be dissatisfied in Toronto and that the Trail Blazers along with a handful of other teams were extremely interested in him.
The reports were met with laughable disdain by most Raptors fans and star rookie Scottie Barnes went as far as calling out the reporter who initially broke the rumors for spreading misinformation. Now we have some additional reports that if the Raptors were going to trade Anunoby it would only be for an enormous haul.
What would it take to get OG Anunoby from the Raptors?
In a conversation between HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto and Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy, both reporters through some serious cold water on the trade ideas.
Murphy: Your league sources are right. It would take a lot for the Raptors to move Anunoby. Masai Ujiri loves this kid. He’s really good. He’s an all-world defender. He’s very efficient when he’s playing a tertiary lower usage spot-up dominant role. They still think there’s some upside in his self-creation game.
As it pertains to the Raptors’ interest in a trade, I don’t think it’s any secret that OG would be the most logical trade chip in a lot of scenarios. While I think the team would prefer to trade Gary Trent Jr., he only has one year left before he can opt out. If you’re talking in terms of value that another team might see in a guy, it’s not quite the same since OG has an extra year on his deal, and he’s about the same price and a better all-around player.
Scotto: I think the Raptors would rather go into the season without a traditional center than trade OG for a center who is a worse player than OG is overall.
The Trail Blazers are the team that would appear to have the most interest in Anunoby and a sign-and-trade including Jusuf Nurkic is almost certainly less than the Raptors would be looking for. You’ll hear Anunoby’s name mentioned plenty over the next two weeks but this one is probably more smoke than fire.