The Toronto Raptors Are The Favourites To Land Giannis Antetokounmpo!

The Toronto Raptors Are The Favourites To Land Giannis Antetokounmpo!

[Music] What’s up basketball fans? Welcome to the Ratch Report. It is time to talk about the Toronto Raptors. I was planning on making a video regarding some of the draft prospects that the Raptors could take with the ninth overall pick, but we got some major news to talk about regarding Giannis Honda Dumpo and the Raptors being one of two favorite teams to land him as well. Also, I’m going to be discussing for today’s video whether the Raptors should trade for Giannis, who they should trade, and what the long-term plans would be for a team like the Tron Raptors if they were to acquire Giannis onto the Kmpo. So, if you’re ready to watch, make sure to hit the subscribe button. And with that being said, let’s get into today’s video. Now, it was being reported by Legion Hoops that report Giannis prefers to stay in the Eastern Conference. According to Scoop, B2 teams that have emerged as destinations of interest for the two-time MVP are the Toronto Raptors and the Brooklyn Nets. Now, first of all, I do not blame Giannis in any way, shape, or form for wanting to stay in the Eastern Conference. When you look at the Western Conference as a whole, there’s just way too many teams that could make the finals every single season. And given Giannis’s situation, his age, he obviously wants to win now and not go into a situation where he may make the finals maybe one more year throughout the rest of his career. And just given, you know, the juggernauts that the Western Conference has like the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Nuggets, now you got, you know, Dallas Mavericks who could look good as well. And I mean, there’s several teams there, you know, that could really be very scary to face off even in the first round as well. So, do not blame Giannis for staying or wanting to stay in the Eastern Conference. Now, Raptors Republic actually came out with an article stating that Giannis is interested in Toronto. I couldn’t find anywhere else where it stated that. So, um I find that to be quite interesting and also just given the situation and the landscape of the Eastern Conference, it makes a lot of sense that the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors are two teams that could be interested in Giannis’s services. Now, this would not be the first time that the Toronto Raptors, in particular, Messiah Jury is being linked to Giannis on Dempa. We know well before he got drafted, the Raptors tried very, very hard to trade into that pick to draft Giannis. And of course, they weren’t able to get it. And even several years back where there were some rumors before he signed that extension with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Toronto Raptors were attempting to free up a lot of cap space to make a run at him during the summertime as well. But we know again that did not happen. Now, Giannis, it is important when we talk about potential trades to have a look at his contract situation. And as you see here, he’s currently slated to make $54 million next season. He’s got three more years left with the third being a player option. The following season, he’d make $58.4 million. And the player option would be $62.7 million, which, you know, he would be 33 by that time. Now, a lot of people may ask, why the Toronto Raptors? Why are they being linked to, you know, a player like Giannis? They’re not ready to win. Well, actually, when you take all of the moves into consideration that they made last season, even leading up to the trade deadline, they actually want to win now. Now, why is that the case? For one simple reason, one simple reason only. They were able to get Brandon Ingram for the cheap. They obviously wanted to get rid of Bruce Brown’s contract as well. And just given the way the NBA is going, it makes sense that you don’t want to prolong your retooling for too too long. And when you’re able to buy and get someone, you know, on the low for Brandon Ingram, um, you know, only for one first round pick in a couple of seconds, I believe. And, you know, expiring contracts, that’s not bad, you know, at all. Now, in terms of obviously making the money work when you take a look at the Toronto Raptor salary cap situation here, it’s going to be a little bit challenging. Again, I don’t want you to look at 2024, 2025. I want you to look at 2025, 2026. that is when the Tron Raptors, you know, are going to be having some salaries that they can throw in for um of course uh Giannis on Dupa. So again, keep in mind that Giannis does make approximately $54.1 million. You would have to come close to that just given, you know, both teams salary cap situation. So the first player that comes to mind, I know a lot of people are going to say, well, why don’t we just trade Brandon Ingram with another player? You know, it’s just it’s not going to happen, guys. It’s just not going to happen. Um, in terms of some of the other players that you could potentially look to trade, I know some people have suggested you could trade, you know, RJ Barrett, uh, along with, of course, Yaka Purle, then you can throw in a few other guys like Ochai in there. Obviously, we’d have to throw in multiple first round picks, and then you would have a lineup of Giannis, Brandon Ingram, Scotty Barnes, uh, obviously Emanuel Quickley, and then Grady Dick or, you know, Jacobe Walter if those two, one of those two aren’t traded thrown into the trade. But realistically, we do have to be honest when we talk about trades. I mean, you’re trading for a, you know, a former MVP, someone who’s put up 30 points in three consecutive seasons. He’s been, you know, a top five, I believe, in MVP voting for like, I want to say three or four seasons now, even probably longer. Um, he has, you know, obviously had a lot of MVP caliber type of seasons. Even this season, he’s top three in MVP candidates. And uh a very interesting note, you know, obviously a lot of people don’t want to depart with Scotty Barnes. I think if Milwaukee’s having a trade discussion with each other Raptors, you’re probably going to be asking for Scotty Barnes right off the bat and not anyone else. Now, I know the consensus for a lot of Raptors fans may be no. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. You know, for Scotty Barnes, he could be, you know, our lockdown defender where Giannis really focuses on scoring. And I don’t disagree with that. And Giannis does have high praise for Scotty Barnes as well. But I think ultimately if you do make a deal for Giannis, you have to throw Scotty Barnes’ contract and there does become a little bit of a challenge when you talk about making the money work. However, because when you look at Scotty Barnes, $38.6 million, you have to talk about throwing some other money in there as well. And this is where the challenge comes from, right? Like you can throw Ochai in there that makes about uh I want to say $43 million. You’re still short approximately you’re still short about $10 million. So, where does the rest of the $10 million come from? Like, are you willing to throw greedy dick, Jacobe in there as well? And it just doesn’t make sense, right? That’s where it was kind of nice to have players like Chris Busher and Kelly Oolen last season where you have a lot of money you can kind of throw in trades. Um, but one option the Raptors could do is obviously throw in Scotty Barnes. Oar Baji is going to be tough to give up, but he does need an extension next season. I don’t know if the Raptors want to pay him a large sum of money, so you can possibly throw that. And of course, our ninth pick as well. you know, that should be making I want to see if my math is correct or from my memory I should say what the Raptors are expected to pay or what the draft pick at the number nine spot should be approximately around $67 million approximately. So then you can kind of throw in, you know, maybe Colin Castleton in there, you know, but if I’m the Toronto Raptors and I’m negotiating with the Bucks and particularly I’m throwing in Scotty Barnes in that situation, you’re not offering a ton of first round picks. Like I’m not throwing more than one, maybe maximum two first round picks. And that second first round pick I’m throwing better come with heavy protections, right? Cuscotti Barnes alone is worth about two first round picks, maybe three depending on how you feel about him. So you’re already giving up a really good young player to the Milwaukee Bucks. So for the Toronto Raptors, it’ll be interesting to see how the negotiations go. Um again, if you throw in Scotty Barnes in there, it’s it’s going to be tough. And I know some people suggest, well, if you acquire Giannis, you can, you know, trade Yakob Purle and have Giannis play the five. Guys, Giannis does not want to play the five. It’s quite obvious by this time of his career, he is not someone that wants to play the five. He probably won’t enjoy it. And um I think it’s safe to say that, you know, I think Jakob Hurle should be sticking around, especially with Giannis here. It’ll just really help blister your defense. Obviously, Giannis can play the center position. I don’t think he wants to. But in terms of Giannis, let’s quickly talk about him before we end the video. Guys, as I mentioned, like you look at his stats. And if you’re looking at this and telling me you would not trade Scotty Barnes for this, you’re absolutely insane. Like, it’s insane the amount of rebounds he gets, his assists. I mean, this past season, he averaged 30.4 points per game, 11.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.2 blocks per game. And I mean, he goes to the free throw line so much. Even though his free throw percentage may not be great, I mean, the guy is an absolute MVP caliber player. And I know people are going to say, well, if you’re trading Scotty Barnes, why are we trading him for a 30-year-old? It’s not just any 30-year-old. It is someone that maintains a body really. Well, if it was Joel Embiid, I could make the case of, yes, we shouldn’t trade Scotty, you know, but if I’m the Raptors, I am absolutely throwing Scotty in that trade discussion. The question also becomes, I mean, how many more picks are you going to throw in there, right? because Scotty Barnes is a lot to throw in there from the Toronto Raptors point of view. And I do also believe just for a lot of people that say they won’t trade Scotty Barnes, the question also becomes it’s going to be a really odd fit, right? So anyways guys, that’s my thoughts on Giannis, I think it would be a great addition. And I do want to quickly say before we end the video, for those that feel like it may be a little bit rushed or you may feel like, well, why are we going to trade for Giannis? Why don’t we just keep our roster together, listen, we do not have a long window to win in the NBA. Now, why do I say that? I want to quickly put up the salary cap situation yet. Once again, as you guys know, the Raptors, if you look at the bottom of the screen, next season, the Raptors are at $181 million.8 million. That’s not including our first round pick, who should make around $67 million. So, we’re going to be in the luxury cap regardless. And that makes trades so much more challenging. And also, when you take into consideration the salaries that will be expiring, you got Yaka Purle that’s expiring. You know, after next season, you’re going to have Oayabaji who’s going to be asking for a raise. and Yaka Purle, don’t get us don’t get this twisted. He’s getting a raise as well from that $19.5 million even though he’s getting up there in age. And then the following season, you have RJ Barrett and Brandon Ingram can potentially, again, potentially remove his player option, say no, and either leave or ask for more money. And then you also have Greedy Dick as well. He’ll need a pay raise. So again, this roster, the way it’s constructed, isn’t set to be the same roster for another three, four seasons. there’s a very small window for the Toron Raptors to win and build on this and ultimately even if you know you figure out the salary situation or trades with guys like Yaka Purle and you know Oiabaji it’s easier said than done and just considering you know the Eastern Conference and particularly Jason Tatum being injured as well the East could be a lot more open next season as opposed to previous seasons so it’ll be interesting to see again Giannis the really only team I know the Pacers have beat him in back-to-back seasons but if he’s on the Toronto Raptor The only team I would really be concerned about would be the Boston Celtics. But considering their situation, Kristoffs being injuryprone, Drew Holiday being injuryprone, and both of those guys could possibly be dealt during the offseason. I think the Raptors are in a great position to trade for Giannis and make a strong playoff push for next season and also make a deep playoff push most importantly. So again, I’m very curious to hear your thoughts. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. I apologize if I sound a little bit off. I’m still quite under the weather and uh not feeling too well, but let me know your thoughts in the comments section. There’s no trivia question, so if you would like a shout out, let me know in the comment section below and I’ll give you a shout out for my next video. So, that will be it for today’s video. Thank you so much for watching and I hope you guys have yourselves a great

I will be discussing the latest news and rumors surrounding the Toronto Raptors. News came out that Giannis Antetokounmpo is open to the idea of leaving the Bucks organization and that he prefers to stay in the eastern conference. Two teams are being linked to Giannis, one being the Nets and the other the Raptors. I will break down the rumors and what the Raptors may have to give up for Giannis in a trade package.