76ers Rival Report: Knicks Prepared to Pay for Raptors Standout?

The Toronto Raptors are a long way from their championship-winning season, which took place in 2019. While Toronto remained playoff contenders in the post-Kawhi Leonard era, they are currently outside of the Eastern Conference Play-In picture 52 games into the year.

Are the Raptors going to blow it all up? That’s one of the biggest questions in the East. While re-tooling the roster sounds better for Toronto, some of their most prominent pieces are popular names on the trade market. And for the second-straight season, OG Anunoby is generating interest.

The veteran forward is no stranger to trade rumors. As the deadline approached last year, Anunoby was one of the biggest names on the market. As we know now, he didn’t land anywhere. Once again, as the Raptors struggle to put together a competitive season, Anunoby is a potential trade piece.

Typically, teams like to trade players outside of their division — and even sometimes outside of their conference. When it comes to Anunoby, though, one Atlantic Division team hopes they can win the sweepstakes from their division rival this time around.

The New York Knicks Are Taking a Swing?

According to SportsNet’s Michael Grange, the Knicks “prepared to offer three first-round picks” for the Toronto veteran. New York is no stranger to getting active in the trade market. During the offseason, they were among the headliners to potentially land Donovan Mitchell from the Utah Jazz.

While it seemed the Knicks were favored to grab Mitchell for a while, the Cleveland Cavaliers swooped in and won the sweepstakes.

The Knicks still landed a prominent player by grabbing Jalen Brunson in free agency after his time with the Dallas Mavericks came to an end. However, Brunson’s presence has only given the Knicks a slight boost, as they sit seventh in the East with a 27-25 record.

What’re the chances the Knicks increase their odds by snagging Anunoby from Toronto by way of sending multiple first-rounders?

“The quality of those picks isn’t exactly high-end: They have picks belonging to Dallas, Washington and Detroit that are top-10 protected, top-14 protected and top-18 protected, respectively. Not nothing, but the best case is one more chance in the Victor Wembanyama lottery than they are projected to have now. Otherwise, a pair of mid-to-late first-round picks aren’t likely to change the Raptors' trajectory in the short-to-medium term. Teams such as Memphis and New Orleans have more attractive draft capital and better talent to deal. Denver could be a dark horse too.”

If the Raptors are targeting draft capital in return for the 25-year-old forward, then multiple first-rounders sound good on the surface. But as Grange pointed out, several of New York’s picks are protected.

The Knicks need to trade for a player like Anunoby more than Toronto needs to get rid of him. The Raptors won’t have any issues trading away Anunoby. They just have to find the right return to make it happen.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.