National Basketball Association

Trading for a superstar - the Raptors dilemma

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

There’s one goal for the Raptors over the next few years, and that’s the winning of an NBA championship. If the team can’t develop a superstar, can it trade for one?

The Ringer, Bill Simmons’ post-Grantland web toy, offers some thoughts about BIG NBA DEALS in the provocatively titled post “The State of the Blockbuster NBA Trade”. The writer, Kevin O’Connor, fails to gin up much excitement, conceding “The market appeared to be primed for blockbuster trades this summer, but no deals materialized.”

Your Correspondent glommed onto this topic because of the ongoing debate among fans of the Toronto Raptors as to where our favourite team is headed this season. There are two camps, one of which believes strongly that’s there no NBA championship rings to be had without the acquisition of a superstar. The other thinks a 9- or 10-deep team can return to the Eastern Conference Finals, after which anything can happen. For the record, I’m in the latter group, but I readily concede the superstar argument is compelling. I’m not an idiot – who wouldn’t want a superstar?

Is Cousins a difference-maker?

The Ringer piece spills a lot of virtual ink discussing the prospect of DeMarcus Cousins being moved from the Sacramento Kings. He’s the obvious player to consider because his name is at the top of two lists, one headed Superstar, the other Disgruntled and not shy about saying so. The Kings GM, Vlade Divac, claims to hang up on any NBA General Manager who calls to ask “How much is that big man in the middle?”

Jan 28, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay (8) makes a shot as he is covered by Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

I’m sure that’s how Vlade feels today before the season takes flight. After all, everyone’s tied at 0-0, so we’re all contenders. Whether he still feels that way around Christmas, when his team has yet to win ten games, and his challenging (to put it mildly) owner, Vivek Ranadive, is breathing down his neck is a different matter.

But would the Raptors want Cousins? Not this cowboy. Just for silliness, I put together a trade proposal. It couldn’t be simpler: Jonas Valanciunas straight up for Cousins. The deal works on the Trade Machine, with negligible impact on both teams’ projected wins. Then why we would do the deal? If the impact is nil, is Cousins even a superstar, or is he just the best player on a bad team?

He’s been in the NBA six years and boasts two All-Star appearances, which is two more than the number of playoff games he’s appeared in.

The Ringer piece also discusses the remake of the Indiana Pacers. After all their changes, their best player, Paul George, is still there. I’ll wager a pair of courtside seats to a Raptors-Cavaliers game that Pacers head honcho Larry Bird wouldn’t bother with so much as a friendly chat about trading away George. Birdman knows the impact of a superstar on a team – he was one, emphatically.

Who’s out there Raptors can get?

And there’s the problem, Rapture Nation. We can speculate till the cows come home about how much better we might be if Masai could somehow get Blake Griffin to Toronto. Is that really true, considering that Griffin has played in 102 of 164 games the last two seasons? Money-wise, we could dump Patrick Patterson and DeMarre Carroll on the LA Clippers and have a working trade. Can you imagine the screaming in La-La Land? Heads would roll.

I suppose it’s considering which player is truly available which causes me to tune out on the “Let’s get a superstar” conversation. Stephen Curry? LeBron? ‘Melo? Dream on.

How about a young gun like Andrew Wiggins? Not gonna happen.

I’d be happy to engage with any reader who can come up with a superstar-grade player whom the Raptors might be able to pry loose. Please let me know your thoughts in the Comments. I’m serious about this.