CHARLOTTE — If this is how it ends for Chris Boucher as a Toronto Raptor, he’s pretty much resigned to it at this stage.
Certainly, the signs are there.
The NBA trade deadline is Thursday at 3 p.m. ET and the Canadian has slipped out of head coach Darko Rajakovic’s rotation. According to multiple league sources, the seven-year veteran has been made available in trade discussions.
It may or may not happen, but if it does…
“I mean, everything has to end, right? So if that's what's gonna happen, then cool,” Boucher, the last Raptor remaining from the 2018-19 championship season, said when we spoke recently. “Hopefully it will [put me] in a better position. But… you never know what could happen. With what’s been going on this year, obviously, I just got to wait my turn, I guess. If a better situation shows up and they decide to send me somewhere else, so be it.”
Boucher isn’t the only Raptor who could be looking at a change of address, he’s just the one with the most seniority and history with the franchise.
Whether he gets moved or not depends on how teams feel about picking up someone who projects as an eighth or ninth man and who still has one year left on his contract at $10.8 million. Boucher hasn’t lost a step, by any stretch, and can still shake loose and change a game like few others, but having to commit to salary past this season might be steep for teams that already have significant payroll challenges, which is most teams in the playoff hunt.
So, would a team in need of some depth up front offer a second-round pick and be willing to take on his deal? Opinions may vary on that. Given his uneven performance this season, the Raptors' focus on developing their young talent and the coaching staff seemingly having concluded that Boucher’s unique style isn’t a good long-term fit, some sources have speculated that Toronto might have to add second-round pick or take back a longer-term deal to facilitate a trade.
A more likely Raptor to change uniforms by the end of the week is one at the opposite extreme with regard to his length of service. Bruce Brown was acquired as part of the Pascal Siakam deal on Jan. 17 and almost from the minute the trade was confirmed, speculation began about where the versatile, defensive-minded guard might end up.
Brown, who won a title as part of the Denver Nuggets rotation last year, isn't sweating it. The Raptors are his fourth team in three seasons and, on top of that, he’s been on the move ever since the deal was made — he was on a west-coast trip with the Indiana Pacers when he got dealt and has only played three home games with Toronto so far.
“Not even thinking about it, to be honest,” said Brown, who has shown signs of getting comfortable with the Raptors even as the possibility of him being traded grows closer. “I’m just trying to control what I can control, and I can’t control that end of it.”
While several teams have inquired about Brown, intrigued by his ability to work his way into almost any lineup along with his championship pedigree, the New York Knicks remain a possible or even likely landing spot, with Evan Fournier and his contract as the matching piece.
According to a league source, the Raptors are asking for and have been offered a first-round pick for Brown, who is earning $22.5 million this season and has a team option on his deal for next season worth $23 million.
The sticking point is that the Knicks are trying to get the deal done by using one of the two first-round picks they have for the upcoming draft — either their own pick, projected to be 23rd, or the Dallas Mavericks' pick, which would be 17th if the draft was tomorrow, and is top-12 protected.
Given the Raptors are already in position to have four picks in the top 31 selections of what is deemed to be a fairly ordinary draft class, at best, it’s little wonder Toronto is holding out for a future Knicks first-rounder. But that’s a commodity the Knicks are loathe to part with as they try to keep their powder dry should they have an opportunity in the off-season to trade for a star to bring them into championship contention.
Brown’s deal works in that context also because it would be a big piece the Knicks could include in a star-type trade to help them get a deal done without having to gut their existing rotation to match salaries.
Outside of Brown and Boucher, the Raptors are certainly otherwise wide-open for business, the exceptions being — obviously — newly named all-star Scottie Barnes, point guard Immanuel Quickley and 23-year-old RJ Barrett, who is playing above the value of his current contract since being acquired by the Raptors (with Quickley) from the Knicks.
Some teams have poked around Jakob Poeltl, who could be a useful depth big on clubs looking ahead and having to battle with the likes of Joel Embiid or Nikola Jokic in the playoffs. One Western Conference GM I spoke with suggested the big Austrian might even fetch a (likely heavily protected) first-round pick, but the circumstances would need to be just right, given Poeltl has three years and $59.5 million left on his contract. As well, the Raptors are so devoid of quality NBA bigs that trading their only centre would come with risks. The Raptors were 2-9 when Poeltl was out recently with a sprained ankle.
Dennis Schroder would be of interest to teams looking for point-guard depth, but the return would be second-rounders at best, said one league source.
It would be a similar story for Gary Trent Jr., who has shot the ball superbly this season — he’s hitting 42.8 per cent of his threes, which would be a career-best — but remains in the eyes of many a tough fit in a playoff-calibre rotation because of his weaknesses — attacking closeouts, defending and as a playmaker. Given Trent Jr. is a pending free agent and still just 25, there’s a case for the Raptors to try and re-sign him, but the sense is if there was a reasonable return the Raptors might move him to open up minutes for Gradey Dick.
After that, the Raptors have veterans Thad Young and Otto Porter Jr. on expiring deals who might catch the imagination of teams looking for emergency depth — the Los Angeles Clippers have had an eye on Porter Jr. at times this season at minimal cost, but the return is likely in the range of lower-end second-round picks.
Still, an asset is an asset. You never know where you might find a player, as the Raptors know as well as any team. Their long run as Eastern Conference contenders was made possible by finding NBA players in some unlikely places, Boucher among them.
Boucher was undrafted out of Oregon in 2017 when he was already 24. He was waived by the Golden State Warriors after spending all but one minute of one game playing for their G-League affiliate and received a last-minute Summer League invite from Toronto in 2018. From there, he was able to eke out a training-camp invite and showed well enough that he was rewarded with a two-way contract. After earning both MVP and defensive player of the year honours playing primarily for Raptors 905 in 2018-19, Boucher had his deal converted to a regular contract in time for the Raptors' championship run and has been a Toronto regular — to varying degrees — ever since.
“I’ve done a lot, being here, having to adjust to roles and not knowing what's going to happen next,” Boucher said. “And at this point, I’m mature enough to know what's going on but also I know myself enough where whatever happens I’ll deal with it, but I know what I can bring to the table too.”
It’s unlikely any team will make moves involving players at the level of OG Anunoby or Siakam by Thursday's deadline. There are no members of the all-defence team available to be traded like Anunoby, or all-round offensive cogs with multiple all-NBA teams on their resume like Siakam.
There are a lot of players who project to be back-of-the-rotation fillers for good teams, which means the market remains muddled, even hours before the deadline.
“There are a lot of deals that will probably come down to 2:59,” said one team source I spoke with.
The hope is that as the clock ticks, expectations on both sides of the table will begin to align.
As for what's happening right now?
“It’s been a pretty boring 48 hours; not a lot of chatter,” said one team source. “And the asking price for some of these [role players] is astronomical.”
The price for Boucher wouldn’t be that. Whether he stays or goes, the Montrealer takes some satisfaction in being able to manage the uncertainty better than he might have in the past.
“At the end of the day, it’s happened to me a lot of times, [sliding out of the rotation],” he says. “So it’s their decision, whoever is was making that decision. But I know I definitely could bring something to the team. Whatever if they don't believe it, I mean, there's nothing I could do about it."
“[Before] I probably would have snapped by now,” adds Boucher, crediting the moments at home with his soon-to-be one-year-old son Massiah for keeping him grounded. “I probably would have came to [the media] and be like ‘I need more minutes’ and all and whatever, but now it's more like trying to see the positive out of the situation and also knowing that sometimes it’s not always your fault. I don't think it's my fault I'm not playing, that's for sure.”
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