Raptors May Want to Trade For Pelicans Star After He Beat Them

The Toronto Raptors are no stranger to making a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Raptors acquired Brandon Ingram from the Pelicans a little more than a year ago, and he went on to have an All-Star campaign in his first year with the team. However, there might be reason for the two sides to collaborate on another deal. Bleacher Report writer Dan Favale suggests the Raptors should trade for Pelicans star forward Trey Murphy III.

"So much energy was burned leading into the trade deadline trying to suss out the Toronto Raptors' perfect big man. More time and effort should've been spent identifying someone who could come in and add dynamism to the offense—definitely as a floor-spacer, but also as a secondary creator," Favale wrote.

"Trey Murphy III isn't going to check the secondary-creator box, but the pull he has on- and off-ball will open up the half-court for Brandon Ingram, Scottie Barnes and, well, everyone else. He'll cost a mint in draft assets. The Raptors can handle it. They have all of their own first-round picks and shouldn't be shy about throwing them around if they're serious about building up from the middle."

Raptors Urged to Trade For Trey Murphy III

New Orleans Pelicans forward Trey Murphy III dribbles against Toronto Raptors guard Immanuel Quickley. | Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

If the Raptors get the version of Murphy they saw during their game, Toronto should be more than happy to take him on the roster. He had 28 points on 8 of 12 shooting with seven rebounds. However, it's hard to imagine the Pelicans would want to trade Murphy after that kind of performance.

The Pelicans are building around Murphy and he is a key part of what the team wants to do. That being said, the Pelicans are not receiving a first-round pick this year after trading it to the Atlanta Hawks for Derik Queen, so the Raptors could entice the Pelicans with multiple first-round picks and RJ Barrett's salary as the base to get a deal done.

Murphy would be a good offensive engine for the Raptors, and he already has chemistry with Ingram. It could create a very strong offensive pair, but the Raptors would be further locking themselves into a box because they already have limited flexibility on the contracts of the core players on the team, which include Barnes, Ingram, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl.

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