Why ? They have no chance of contending.
Dame doesn’t put us anywhere near competing. Doesn’t make sense, timelines don’t match up.
What timeline do the Raptors currently have? I don’t see any way for them to get near contention without doing at least two major trades. And Lillard could be the first of the trades. Right now they are too good to tank but also more than just one realistic trade from contention away.
Having Lillard sets them up for a much better situation. Yes, the last two years on Lillard’s contract aren’t ideal. Paying 60 million for a 35, 36-year-old Lillard might be hard to swallow if he falls off. But I would argue hoping to pair a second star with Lillard in the next 1-2 seasons to become a contender is more realistic than hoping for Barnes turning into a superstar that can lead the Raptors to another ring.
It’s not a no-brainer or steal for the Raptors but it also isn’t messing up their near future. Because again, they have no timeline to mess up.
My ideal timeline would be a full tear down and rebuild with Scottie being at the center of that. Trading for Dame eliminates that direction.
I don’t believe we are good enough with Dame to contend and a second move would require sending Siakam/OG which based on current belief are rated to high by the raptors hurting their return or are not valued high enough by teams around the league. Both which hurt the team and don’t really add enough positive value in versus value going out.
But I agree, currently there is no one timeline but two which is messing everything up.
Yeah this sounds like Portland’s pitch to Raps for this trade. LOL.
Portland is desperate for another player in this episode
Portland isn’t desperate. Lillard and Miami fans are though.
