A brief history of the Raptors on deadline day

Two years ago, new Toronto Raptors general manager shocked the world at the NBA’s trade deadline.

Not by making a big move – he’d done his major work earlier in the season – but by actually getting the San Antonio Spurs to engage in deadline activities, a bit of a rarity. The deal was a minor one, with the Raptors flipping Austin “Bars for Dayes” Daye for Nando de Colo, whose name I still say like “Jason DeRulo” for some reason. It was mostly meaningless, with Daye later sent to Atlanta (and now Italy) and de Colo playing 21 games before heading overseas (the Raptors still own his rights in restricted free agency).

That type of move is par for the course for the Raptors, as the franchise has rarely made a splash at the buzzer.

Isiah Thomas – 1996-98 deadlines

1996: Raptors trade Tony Massenburg, Ed Pinckney, two second-round picks, and the right to swap first-round picks (or receive a third second-rounder) to Philadelphia for Sharone Wright.
The Raptors’ first deadline is a pretty boring one. The 6-foot-11 Wright would play 78 games with the team over parts of three seasons but never sniffed the 16.5-and-5.2 he averaged down the stretch for Toronto that year. Massenburg lasted in the league forever as a decent role player, while Pinckney played just 54 games after the trade.

Those picks, meanwhile, never turned into much, though trading three seconds in your expansion season for someone who ends up being nothing is a bad look.

1997: Raptors trade Acie Earl to Milwaukee for Shawn Respert
A pleasant expansion-season surprise, the Raptors sold at the right time, flipping nine games of Earl for…OK, well Respert wasn’t much, either. He played in 74 games as a reserve guard before getting flipped to Dallas.

1998: Nothing

Glen Grunwald – 1999-2004 deadlines

1999: Nothing

2000: Nothing

2001: Raptors trade Muggsy Bogues and Mark Jackson to New York for Chris Childs and a first-round pick; Raptors trade Tyrone Corbin, Kornel David, Corliss Williamson, and a first-round pick to Detroit for Jerome Williams and Eric Montross
Now we’re talking! Sending out the affable Bogues, Big Nasty, two future head coaches, and a pick that would become forever-stashed Fran Vasquez hurts, but Childs and JYD would play major parts in Raptors’ history. The pick they acquired would become Kareem Rush, too, which helped land Lindsey Hunter the following summer.

So…cool? I don’t know, you got Williams and The Guy Who Shot Too Early for a 36-year-old who never played again, a veteran who was blocking Alvin Williams, and the Big Nasty. That’s probably a steep price, but it would help the Raptors win a playoff series for the only time in franchise history. Can you really complain, in that case? Plus, Williams used his parts of four seasons to become one of the most beloved Raptors ever and was then flipped in a deal for Donyell Marshall and Jalen Rose.

Let’s hope for this kind of chaos and a similarly historic playoff run this year.

2002: Nothing

2003: Nothing

2004: Nothing

Rob Babcock – 2005 deadline

2005: Nothing, you coward

Wayne Embry – 2006 deadline

2006: Nothing, because, well, no GM hurts

Bryan Colangelo – 2007-2013 deadlines

2007: Raptors trade Fred Jones to Portland for Juan Dixon
Nobody has ever sold themselves on a deal like your boy sold himself on this one. The Raptors cashed in the former Dunk Contest champion after just half a season, during which he shot under 40 percent, couldn’t hit threes, and didn’t pass. In return, they got a former would-be rising star who had declined some.

Dixon rediscovered some fire down the stretch, averaging 11.1 points in 26.3 minutes but fell out of the rotation the next season, leading to…

2008: Raptors trade Juan Dixon to Detroit for Primoz Brezec
OK, I lied. I sold myself way harder on this deal because “Gangster” was one of my favorite non-prospects. Already 28 and on his fourth team when he landed in Toronto, he averaged 3.7 points and 1.4 rebounds over 13 games before heading overseas. Dixon finished out the season and one more as an inefficient bench scorer.

2009: Raptors sell Will Solomon to Sacramento; Raptors acquire Patrick O’Bryant from Boston for a second-round pick
I hated Solomon with a fiery passion after several friends sold themselves on a one-game outburst early in his first year with the team. So getting rid of him alone was worthwhile. Picking up POB for a season-and-a-half for a pick that never conveyed? Sure, why not. He totaled 80 points and 43 rebounds over 24 appearances with the team and was playing in the Philippines at last update.

2010: Nothing

2011: Nothing

2012: Raptors trade Leandro Barbosa to Indiana for a second-round pick; Raptors waive Anthony Carter
Shipping Barbosa out made plenty of sense. It was a lost season, the Raptors were not-so-subtly tanking, and the 29-year-old was freed to contend, a nice look from the organization’s perspective. Getting a late back that became Tomislav Zubcic, which later became Luke Ridnour’s Non-Guaranteed Contract, got them something out of the deal. It also freed Ben Uzoh for his triple-double.

Carter, who was as old as sin and an inexplicable mid-season signing, also got the ax. He had played 24 games with the team, taking up a spot that could have been used on a young lottery ticket like Ben Uzoh.

2013: Raptors trade Hamed Haddadi and a second-round pick to Phoenix for Sebastian Telfair
Having just acquired Haddadi in the three-team Rudy Gay deal but never playing him due to reported immigration issues, the Raptors attached a pick to him to go Through the Fire. Hadaddi played 17 games with Phoenix before bowing out of the league, and the pick would go on to become Lamar Patterson.

Telfair, meanwhile, played 13 games down the stretch, averaging 4.3 points and three assists in 14.2 minutes. He’s somehow still just 30 and I remain convinced he’s one break away from being a legitimate star in this league.