5 trades to help San Antonio Spurs jumpstart their next dynasty

5. Sell high on Jakob Poeltl

It’s been six years since the Toronto Raptors used the ninth-overall pick on a giant Austrian center named Jakob Poeltl. Since then, he’s pretty much underwhelmed for most of his career. He was always going to be a work in progress, but teams thought he would progress a lot faster than he has. He was one of the main pieces of the trade that sent Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors, a deal Toronto is still thanking San Antonio for.

Poeltl is finally having a breakout season in his sixth year in the league. He’s averaging 13.3 points per game and 9 rebounds per game this year. What’s even more impressive is he’s averaging 4.4 offensive rebounds per game. He’s become proficient in keeping the team’s offense going.

Poeltl might have just figured everything out, and it might be tempting for the Spurs to keep the fruits of their labor. It took him four years in the Spurs system to turn into this version of himself. Wouldn’t it be something the Spurs want to keep as the team grows? He is only 26 years old.

It doesn’t make sense to keep Poeltl at this point. Who knows if this is fool’s gold or if this is who Poeltl is going to be. The rumors are that the Spurs want a first-round pick and a quality player in return for Poeltl. That would be huge for the Spurs, especially for a player they didn’t have crazy expectations for prior to the season. He would be a nice piece moving forward, but the return he would get the Spurs is more important when it comes to asset management.