The Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls are in a bit of an awkward place. They are not quite bad enough to outright tank, given that they have all-star caliber players like DeRozan, Lavine, and Siakam (as well as Vucevic to some extent, but it seems he is declining). They also have a good amount of talent and young players such as Gary Trent Jr, Scottie Barnes, Coby White, OG Anunoby, Poetl, and Caruso.
Overall, both of these teams have multiple players that championship teams would want on their roster. These teams also seem to be a bit stuck, and have been fairly mediocre in the last few seasons, either being a low playoff team or play-in team.
These teams are not going to win a championship, but are not playing badly enough to a point where they could land some potential franchise cornerstone (i.e. a Chet or a Wemby via top 3 pick). It’s time to blow it up.
Now, assuming these teams blow it up at some point in the season, which teams do you think would likely be the buyers? For instance, I could see the Warriors, 76ers, and Lakers making a run at Lavine Siakam, or DeRozan to form some kind of big 3 to combat the Suns, Bucks, and Celtics.
I’d like to see DDR on a team with a great lead ball handler & passer & shooter as the main engine of the offense, give space to DDR & let him be a secondary playmaker and main scorer with the second unit. Lakers and Dallas would make a lot of sense to me. Maybe OKC if they’re contending at the deadline but Giddey isn’t playing well but that seems unlikely. Caruso could probably fit on anywhere so hopefully a few teams get into a bidding war there. Craig is in the same boat, very impressed with him, he’d fit in anywhere, would be nice to get a 2nd or something for him. Lavine would probably cost too much for most trans & the rest of the team probably has no value