We are getting closer to the NBA Trade Deadline, and it looks like the Toronto Raptors are going to be at least doing their due diligence on some star players, as they’ve been linked with Sabonis for quite some time now.
The source comes from a reliable Jake Fischer, and you know it’s serious when theScore is also posting about it. It looks like they won’t be interested in the flashy but trouble-making Ja Morant.
It looks like Toronto is comfortable floating around the possibility of trading Jakob Poeltl, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, who have seemingly been under trade rumours since the tip-off of the 2025-26 NBA regular season. If they package the three, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a bigger return than Domantas Sabonis himself.
It helps that the Sacramento Kings are really struggling this season, with a record of 12 wins and 33 losses, as it should put the Kings in a more desperate position as a seller to start a rebuild that feels inevitable, but the Lithuanians yearly cap hit of $43,636,000 makes it a hard sell for buyers, especially the Raptors who will probably have to send at least two of IQ, RJ or Yak to get the deal done as Poeltl for Sabonis alone leaves them $22,186,000 over the luxury tax.
This clip of Darko Rajakovic and Sabonis post-game has some Raptors fans salivating and dreaming of the thought of a former All-Star potentially joining Toronto for a big playoff push, as it looks like the Raptors are going to be heading back to the postseason for the first time since the 2022-23 season where the 10th seeded Chicago Bulls knocked them out in a 9 versus 10 seed play-in tournament matchup. If you don’t count the play-in, then it would be the first time since the 2021-22 season that Toronto has made it back to the playoffs, if things continue accordingly.
Your next read: Check out Camden MacMillan’s piece on how Ochai Agbaji will affect the Raptors trade deadline.
“Then, there’s the reports that the Raptors are simply looking to duck the luxury tax. If that’s the goal, then big swing trades are likely off the table, and the answer becomes clearer. It’s simple math. Ochai Agbaji is the key to Toronto’s trade deadline.”
“Why Agbaji? Why not Gradey Dick or Ja’Kobe Walter? Well, primarily because Agbaji is the sixth highest paid player on the team at approximately 6.3 million dollars, trading him is the easiest way to duck the tax rather than flipping the lesser salaries of the aforementioned shooting guards. He’s also a restricted free agent this off-season which gives the acquiring team some financial flexibility. Not to mention the fact that he’s three years older than Dick and four years olders than Walter. I think we would agree that it’s far more worthwhile for the Raptors’ to bet on their development than Agbaji’s. At this point Agbaji is really the only asset on Toronto’s books that they can both afford to lose and possibly has value to another team (especially if a second-round pick or two is attached).”
