The Toronto Raptors have been able to breathe easy now that Kawhi Leonard is officially a member of the team.
Leonard, for many obvious reasons, changes Toronto’s world. He may not be the 27-year-old, all-world two-way superstar he was when he led the Raptors to the mountaintop seven years ago, but he’s still pretty darn good. The Raptors can especially feel strongly about Leonard’s return given all the other pieces on the roster. They have a unique blend of veteran starpower and young, rising talent.
There are, however, some questions surrounding the roster, perhaps not enough to derail the team’s championship hopes but still enough to warrant some consideration. One of the bigger points of contention is at the center position.
Could Some Frontcourt Uncertainty Push Raptors to Trade for This All-NBA Star?
No one is here to blame the Raptors if they stand pat for a while after the Leonard trade. After all, acquiring a superstar is no easy business in the NBA. Not only did Toronto re-acquire Leonard, but they locked him into a contract extension. However, if the Raptors wanted to really take things a step further, they could have a path to landing Detroit Pistons All-NBA center Jalen Duren, who has been at the epicenter of the hottest ongoing NBA storyline. According to Raptors Roundtable’s Garrett Shnitker, a move for Duren wouldn’t be ridiculous for the Raptors.
“It may be a risk, but if (general manager Bobby) Webster were smart, he would call Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon to see if there is a trade they would be open to,” Schnitker argued.
While the Pistons are still resistant to trade Duren, even amid all the ongoing turmoil between both sides, Schtinker believes the Raptors can work out a considerable trade package revolving around Jakob Poeltl and RJ Barrett.
“The extent of a package could be murky at this point, considering there is no tell as to how desperate the Pistons are,” Schnitker wrote. “But even if their price is steep, the Raptors have quite the offer in terms of draft compensation alone. … The caveat is that, in order to acquire the All-NBA big man, Poeltl and Barrett would have to be sent to Detroit to match the contracts, so the Raptors could kill two birds with one stone by cutting down three big contracts for supporting players down to one.”
Would Duren Take Toronto Over the Top in the East?
NBA fans may be down on Duren, especially after it was revealed that he turned down the Pistons latest contract offer, which would reportedly pay the 23-year-old big man a whopping $200 million over the next five years. But there is no denying that Duren would be a clear upgrade over Poeltl, who is way older than Duren and has never come close to achieving either All-Star or All-NBA status.
While trading Duren looked like a laughably far-fetched scenario just a few weeks ago, that may not be the case now. And it is not because the Pistons are ready to move on from Duren. It is the other way around.
“Accepting a new contract with Detroit would lock him in with the Pistons for the foreseeable future, and with how these negotiations have gone to this point, he feels incredibly slighted by the organization,” NBA insider Brett Siegel reported for ClutchPoints. “It is reasonable to believe that Duren simply doesn’t want to be with the Pistons anymore, and he has hinted at this multiple times by seeking other opportunities around the NBA and engaging with teams who are both interested now and could be in 2027 if he were to be a free agent next summer.”
So, should the Raptors try inquiring about Duren? You make the call.
Projected NBA Trade Gives Raptors All-NBA 6’10” Center Next to Kawhi Leonard