The Raptors are very much in the mix for Lillard, and progress has been made, though it’s not close by any means.

The Raptors seem at reasonably confident they can manuever their way past the Heat for Lillard.

One league executive I spoke with over the weekend believed that if the Trail Blazers are going to move their iconic guard as part of their rebuild, it will happen early this week, otherwise the urgency may pass and they might wait until the trade deadline and the market gets frothier, as the Nets did with Durant.

For Toronto to be in the mix, it would require it to lift the top-six protections on the 2024 first-round pick it owes San Antonio to finish off the Jakob Poeltl trade from last season. That done, the Raptors could throw their 2026, 2028 and 2030 first-round picks into a deal, and some pick swaps too.

By process of elimination, it probably would come down to a deal built around OG Anunoby, who — at age 25 — best fits the Trail Blazers’ youth-oriented timeline.

As well, it’s believed Scottie Barnes — heading into his third season — remains the apple of the Raptors’ eye and the talent they hope help lift them back to Eastern Conference relevancy, with or without Lillard.

A few Raptors players reached out to Lillard after the 2019 championship to join the team and were instantly “rebuffed”, Dame is also represented by Aaron Goodwin (who represents DeRozan as well).

11 comments

  3. I really don’t see how it would take us giving up 3 firsts as well as OG, who we declined multiple offers of 3 firsts at the deadline? So you’re telling me we’d have to give up 6 firsts essentially, when Miami is only offering 3?

  5. This whole lillard pursuit is a good reminder just how hard it is to attract nba stars to come to toronto. In lillard’s defense, I understand the raptors roster is not particularly appealing to work with. But at the same time, chicago wants lillard too and I dont hear anybody shitting on them. They were just as mid as we were last year.

  6. I suspect all these rumors are coming out of Portland. They are not happy with the Heat package, so they are trying to create a market for Dame where there is none. There are only a few competitive teams that can offer better deals than Heat, so here we are.

  7. Are they really though?

    Sounds like bullshit to me. I don’t think the Raptors are a Dame away from real contention even if they didn’t lose anyone, which isn’t what’s going to happen.

    More likely, Portland is using Toronto for leverage, but Toronto is trying to get into the bigger deal and maybe end up with Tyler Herro.

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