Raptors trade John Salmons for Lou Williams and Lucas Noguiera

The Toronto Raptors have traded John Salmons to the Atlanta Hawks for Lou Williams and Lucas Noguiera.

Last season, coming off a season ending injury the previous year, Williams averaged 10 points, 3.5 assists, on 40% shooting from the field. Williams role with the Hawks was as a scoring 6th man. He was a feature in the Hawks offense off the bench until late in the year he found himself falling out of the rotation. He started gaining Did Not Play Coach’s decisions as the season came to a close and his role with the team came into question.

Salmons started off last season with the Sacramento Kings until he was traded to the Raptors as part of the Rudy Gay trade. Salmons is a career journey man that just finished his 12th season in the NBA. He averaged 12 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds a game last year.

The interesting part of this trade is the big man from Brazil, Noguiera. Given the nickname Bebe, he was drafted 16th by the Dallas Mavericks, and then traded to the Hawks the same night. He spent the year in over in Europe, leaving many excited for when the Hawks would bring him stateside.

This is a good trade for the Raptors, and a risky one for the Hawks. The Raptors now have Williams to help beef up the scoring off their bench and they got a young big man prospect in Bebe.

The Hawks meanwhile acquired cap space in what is most likely an effort to attract a big name to come play with Al Horford.