Brown remains Raptors’ most interesting trade chip with deadline two weeks away

TORONTO – By now, Bruce Brown knows the drill.

Despite playing for five different teams in seven NBA seasons, last year was a brand new experience for the veteran guard. For the first time in his career, he was hearing his name come up in trade speculation. And it came up a lot.

From the moment he arrived in Toronto as part of the blockbuster deal that sent Pascal Siakam to Indiana last January, Brown was on the block. Nothing personal; he’s a player the Raptors had admired for a while, but they were transitioning into a rebuild and he simply didn’t fit their timeline. With his two-way skill set, championship experience and uniquely structured contract – he had a $23-million team option for this season – there was enough league-wide interest in his services to fuel the rumour mill leading up to the trade deadline.

It could have been flattering, if not for the fact that he was in limbo and living out of a suitcase, his future uncertain. If nothing else, going through it once has made it easier to tune out the noise this time around.

“Last year it was super tough,” the 28-year-old admitted. “I was saying I didn’t care about it, but I did. It was tough, [not] knowing if I was going to be here or not or if I was going to stay in the hotel. But now it’s like it’s part of the business. And through the summer I knew at some point I was going to face this again, just being on an expiring deal and on a young team. But if it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, I’m happy to be here.”

Two weeks out from the Feb. 6 trade deadline, Brown remains the Raptors’ most interesting bargaining chip. The team decided against moving him a year ago but it wasn’t for a lack of interest or offers, just that their asking price – a first-round pick – was too high.

Over the summer, they opted into the final year of his contract rather than creating cap space, hoping that he might recoup some value coming off an injury-riddled season and they could test his market again. It’s no secret that Toronto would love to add to its underwhelming return for Siakam, while turning Brown into an asset or two, even if that ends up being multiple second-round picks instead of a first.

He's done his part. What could have been an awkward situation has played out far more amicably than, say, the Goran Dragic saga of 2021-22 because of Brown’s professionalism. He has said and done the right things, from supporting his younger teammates and being a steady presence on the bench and in the locker room to working his way back from off-season knee surgery.

After missing the first 31 games of the season and then needing some time to regain his rhythm and conditioning, Brown is finally healthy and looking like the guy who played a key role for the title-winning Denver Nuggets in 2022-23.

He scored a season-high 17 points in last week’s loss to Milwaukee and then followed it up with 15 points against Orlando, while spearheading his team’s biggest comeback win of the campaign. The Raptors trailed by as many as 21 points during a lifeless first quarter when Brown checked in, scored 10 quick points and changed the game with his energy. If interested teams were watching – and, at this time of the year, you know that they were – they had to be impressed. But to what end?

There are several contending clubs who could use an elite, do-it-all role player off the bench, particularly out West. Dallas and Memphis have kicked the tires before. He’s long been tied to the Lakers. A reunion in Denver would also make sense. The problem is most of the teams that can reasonably talk themselves into the fit are bound by the new CBA’s strict trade restrictions and would have difficulty matching Brown’s $23-million salary without including the type of bad, long-term contracts that Toronto would prefer to avoid.

A more plausible scenario is the one that the Toronto Star recently outlined and TSN can confirm that the Raptors would be open to and are continuing to explore: facilitating a bigger transaction.

It’s complicated, and there are plenty of moving parts, but with Brown, Chris Boucher and Davion Mitchell, they could cobble together north of $40 million in expiring contracts. That might be helpful in getting a disgruntled star (like, say, Jimmy Buter) to his preferred destination (like, say, Phoenix) as the third, fourth or even fifth team in the deal, coming away with a few assets (picks or young players or both) for their trouble.

Note, the Cavs acquired Jarrett Allen for their part in helping James Harden get to Brooklyn in a multi-player, four-team trade four years ago. That’s not to say the expectation or cost for this service should be a future all-star, but if you’re opportunistic and the stars align, there is a benefit to being the team that assists somebody else’s big move.

Of course, it’s a far cry from where the Raptors were last year, when they were the ones pulling the strings. Every team in the league was looking to them until they ultimately moved on from OG Anunoby and Siakam, albeit at a point of minimal leverage. They’re no longer belles of the ball, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing – it’s not like Miami is in an enviable position these days. To find value over the next couple weeks, they’ll almost certainly need to do it with smaller, more subtle moves.

Outside of Scottie Barnes, everyone is believed to be available at the right price, though it’s hard to see them breaking up their young core, which leaves their small handful of vets on the table.

The biggest deal they could reasonable make – trading centre Jakob Poeltl – is one that, according to multiple league sources, they’ve been extremely reluctant to consider. The 29-year-old is having a career year, averaging a personal-best 14.6 points and 10.4 rebounds on 61 per cent shooting, and would surely have a market if he were to be made available.

However, assuming the club adds another top draft pick over the summer and is ready to make a leap next season, they see Poeltl as the type of veteran big man who can help them get there. Maybe a contending team loses its starting centre to injury and makes a big offer between now and the deadline, but at least for now, the sense is that Poeltl will remain in Toronto.

The leaves a trio of veteran reserves: Brown, Boucher and Kelly Olynyk. It’s unclear how much any of them would return individually. Brown’s salary is tough to match, and, up until recently, it was hard to see much of a market for Boucher or Olynyk. The Raptors tried to trade the former ahead of last year’s deadline but couldn’t find a buyer without attaching picks as a sweetener. The latter has been limited by a back injury for most of the season and still has another year remaining on his contract.

With the deadline looming, it's probably not a coincidence that the three vets – all believed to be widely available – have been featured more prominently in Darko Rajakovic’s second unit, while (likely temporarily) bumping rookies Ja’Kobe Walter and Jonathan Mogbo from the rotation. That they’ve each looked healthy and played their best basketball of the season during this stretch doesn’t hurt.

Like Brown, Olynyk was excellent against Milwaukee and Orlando, showing his value as a stretch big man with tremendous feel for the game. He hit nine of his 13 shots over those two contests, including 4-of-6 from three-point range, and tied a career-high with four blocks in the win over the Magic, while finishing as a plus-39 in 22 minutes.

During a four-game stretch earlier this month, Boucher was among the hottest players in the NBA. He shot 76 per cent from the field, 14-for-20 from long distance, and averaged 16.3 points in 18 minutes per contest. The efficiency isn’t sustainable, obviously, but the way his energy can impact games is and he’s proven it repeatedly over the years. He could give a team that’s starved for frontcourt depth a lift coming off the bench.

What’s unique about the Raptors, as a rebuilding team that’s 11-32 and figures to be playing for lottery balls down the stretch of the season, is that nobody seems to be clamouring to get out, including the vets that are on the block.

Boucher, a pending free agent, and Olynyk – both Canadians – are hoping to remain with the team through the deadline and beyond, according to sources close to those players. The sense is the Raptors might be willing to negotiate a buyout with Brown if he isn’t dealt and wants to play out the season on a contender, though it’s not certain that he would even ask for one. He says he’s happy in Toronto and, to this point, his actions corroborate that.

From the younger guys to the older ones, everybody seems to be buying into what the team is building, a stark difference from where they’ve been going into trade deadlines of the recent past.

“This group really likes each other,” Rajakovic said ahead of Tuesday’s 109-93 victory over Orlando, Toronto’s third win in four games. “This is the NBA. This is the reality of the business. Once the trade deadline [comes] all the teams are going through the same stuff. There [are] a lot of rumours that might be or might not be true. We have that scenario every single season. What I can say is that our group is very [close] and guys are very motivated coming to work every single day. I cannot notice any difference, to be honest with you.”