Raptors deal OG Anunoby to Knicks, kick off NBA trade season

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One chip off the board.

The news broke Saturday morning, first by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, followed by Shams Charania from The Athletic. After two years of posturing and speculation, the Toronto Raptors finally traded defensive juggernaut OG Anunoby…just not to the Sacramento Kings.

Whether Anunoby was ever a real option for the Kings will likely never be known. What we do know is that the package of RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second round pick is different from any offer that Kings general manager Monte McNair could have come up with. 

Different, not better. That is a distinction that should be made.

When two teams are trying to negotiate a trade, the motivation of each general manager has to be considered. The way the final trade is structured tells you that Masai Ujiri, the man making decisions in Toronto, was looking to reset his team’s timeline to match budding star Scottie Barnes. It does not appear that he is scrapping the whole thing and starting fresh.

Barnes, 22, can now be paired with Barrett, 23, and Quickley, 24, to form a new core in Toronto. If this was Ujiri’s motivation, the Kings had very little to offer the Raptors, outside of Keegan Murray, and according to league sources, he is not on the table. 

What Sacramento could have offered was one of Harrison Barnes or Kevin Huerter and draft compensation. The team has access to their 2026-30 first round selections, although the wording in any trade would be slightly complicated with the team’s 2024 first round pick tied up with lottery protections. McNair also has all of his second round picks from 2024-2029, plus an additional second in 2025.

Not to diminish Harrison Barnes (31) or Huerter (25), but a package built around Barrett and Quickley is more enticing if the idea is to reset the roster around Scottie Barnes, even if first round picks from Sacramento were involved.

This is part of the complicated world of trades in the NBA. It doesn’t just take two sides and a trade machine. Salaries have to be matched. Timelines matter. Not every team is looking for draft compensation. Not every team is looking for veteran players.