Opinion | The Raptors’ Masai Ujiri seems to hold most of the trade cards, but will he deal them?

It was awfully kind of the Brooklyn Nets to promptly remove Kyrie Irving from the centre of the NBA discussion Sunday.

Because, with Thursday’s trade deadline approaching fast, Irving’s move to Dallas meant the expected natural order of the situation had been restored — with Raptors president Masai Ujiri essentially running the market for pro basketball’s available personnel through his phone. Ujiri being Ujiri, who has always played poker at his own pace, figures to be more than happy to make the rest of the NBA wait until their prices meet his demands.

And maybe those prices will even dictate his direction, to a point. With Ujiri’s 25-30 team drifting too close to the NBA’s mushy middle to be a proper tank job, and not so far away from playoff contention that a stubborn executive attached to his creation couldn’t be convinced they’re salvageable, the Raptors could go any number of ways.

Maybe the easy move is to sell high on O.G. Anunoby, the kind of all-purpose defensive blanket that contenders covet. Given Anunoby is in the midst of a rare healthy season — although he is currently out with a wrist injury — the return might never get better.

Or maybe circumstance dictates Fred VanVleet be the one to move. With Irving no longer topping the list of available point guards, VanVleet’s stock as a championship-proven performer can’t help but rise. And if monetizing VanVleet means bidding sad adieu to a much-beloved cultural centrepiece — well, Ujiri once said so long to DeMar DeRozan. Good deals trump good feelings.

Maybe the Raptors are less attached to Gary Trent Jr., who is also in the midst of a contract year. But if they don’t retain and re-sign Trent in the off-season, they’d be saying goodbye to one of the best perimeter shooters on a team that is dreadfully short of perimeter shooting.

And if it’s Pascal Siakam that’s leaving in a deal — and that would be unexpected — maybe Ujiri’s attachment to players his organization has drafted and developed into all-stars has been loosened by an undeniable lack of post-championship success, one measly playoff series victory in the wake of 2019’s parade. Or maybe Ujiri is presented with an offer he just can’t refuse. This is a wide-open championship race, where a lot of teams can convince themselves there’s a ring in their future if they can make the right move this week, so drumming up suitors shouldn’t be a problem for a motivated sellers. Which means the conditions could be ripe for Ujiri to extract prime returns.

No pressure, but Ujiri isn’t making eight figures for nothing. At least, many at MLSE hope not. Certainly it was interesting to listen to Toronto head coach Nick Nurse offer his opinion on Irving’s move to Dallas alongside Nets teammate Markieff Morris, which brought back to Brooklyn point guard Spencer Dinwiddie, defensive stopper Dorian Finney-Smith, an unprotected 2029 first-round pick and a couple of second rounders. Nurse assessed the deal as good for both teams, with the Mavericks getting a co-star for MVP candidate Luka Doncic and the Nets extracting a commendable return for Irving, an impending free agent.

“(Brooklyn) got a lot of assets for a guy that wasn’t going to be back, it seemed,” Nurse said. “And I think that’s important to do.”

That last line is the important one to remember, coming from Nurse. Because if you trace the slow devolution of the Raptors from 2019 champions to 2023 strugglers, a big part of the decline has stemmed from the repeated loss of valuable players who not only didn’t re-sign with Toronto as free agents, but who brought little or nothing back in return as they departed.

Kawhi Leonard’s one-and-done Toronto residency was a gamble that paid off handsomely, of course. He was a one-season rental who left behind nothing except the banner. And even if the banner is forever, and you’ll take it every time, it doesn’t mean the Raptors aren’t still essentially paying for it, considering Leonard plays for the Los Angeles Clippers and the chief chip Toronto swapped for him, DeRozan, is having another all-star season in Chicago.

And that doesn’t mean the Raptors aren’t still reeling from losing the likes of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka to free agency for nothing in the years since. Not that the Raptors could have easily traded Gasol and Ibaka for huge hauls, given their advanced ages. But when you add their exits to the departure of Kyle Lowry, who at least brought back Precious Achiuwa from Miami in return, you can understand where Nurse is coming from.

Toronto’s championship core was disassembled slowly. And as for the hope that the internal draft-and-development machinery would do its job to replenish the ranks — well, let’s just say the Raptors are on a bit of a cold streak in discovering the once-hidden gems like Siakam and VanVleet that so importantly rounded out the title team.

When a procession of core players leaves a franchise, and very little comes back in the other direction, a coach’s options get slimmer and slimmer. A once-deep roster becomes the thinnest in the league, as measured by a Toronto bench that is playing the fewest minutes in the league this season. And that’s the short answer why, when Nurse looks for viable options on a nightly basis, the coach sees a cautionary tale on the risks of allowing impending free agents to walk.

In other words — ahem … hint, hint — unless there’s a better idea on the table, unless the Raptors are set on keeping VanVleet and Trent in the off-season, which is going to get expensive and offers scarce guarantee of progress, maybe it’s time to cash in some chips before another crop of free agents leaves town without a trace beyond the memories.

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