NBA rumors: Raptors keep rebuffing trade offers, making direction clear

Everyone has been sniffing around the Raptors roster since last winter. But NBA rumors say they aren’t interested in trades or a rebuild.

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Raptors are not looking to trade Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby, signaling that they are looking to keep their core together and run it back.

There have been rumors that Pascal Siakam would have ended up being traded to the Trail Blazers for the third overall pick and Anfernee Simons. Additionally, teams offered a lot of first-round picks for OG Anunoby last season’s trade deadline and they are most likely getting trade offers with future picks included from teams right now.

If they are able to offer the right salary, they can probably bring back Fred VanVleet this offseason and have a team that is around the same as they had last season. The Raptors lost in the Play-In Tournament last season and did not make the playoffs.

Do the Raptors have a winning roster?

The Raptors have a roster that is good enough to make the playoffs if everyone on the team is fully healthy. Most likely, this is the ceiling for the team. After this season, they will certainly have the draft picks to make a necessary upgrade for a star. Still, this Raptors’ team is stuck in mediocrity.

Under Bobby Webster and Masai Ujiri, the Raptors have resisted tanking/selling their assets for draft picks at the trade deadline for a long time and it seems that they are still following that plan. For a small market team, it might sense to keep together a core that doesn’t have a player older than 31. Still, this is a team with a lot of trade assets and has a chance to completely reset the roster going forward.

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