TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[DanSchwartzgan]

I believe Lowe and Marks were saying in Lowe's podcast that Siakam would be eligible for the supermax once his contract is up if he makes an all NBA team this year, which isn't out of the question. That's another thing to keep in mind with him besides his age.

And that is the reason he might be on the block.  He’s made an all-NBA team two of the last three years, but he doesn’t have the years yet.  He gets there after this season.  This summer (if he makes all-NBA again because the first one will roll off from counting), he’ll have enough service to do a Designated Veteran extension for $290mm.  If he doesn’t make all-NBA, he can do a regular extension or wait a year and bet that he’ll qualify as a Designated Veteran again in the summer of 2024. 

This kind of reminds me of Cousins and Sacramento a few years ago.  The Kings clearly didn’t want to hitch their wagon to Cousins making that kind of money and traded him before it got to that point.  Toronto is the only team that can give Siakam that contract, but it is difficult to argue with player and agent that he doesn’t deserve it given the fact he would have made three of the last four all-NBA teams if he qualifies.  Better to trade him now and avoid that nastiness than to trade a clearly disgruntled player who is pissed because he wasn’t valued.

Seems like Ayton and Siakam would be a logical trade, but Toronto can’t do that next to a non-shooter like Barnes.  Thus, you get the Raptors sniffing around Turner instead.  I’m not sure I buy this Toronto tear-it-down talk.  I suspect it is more a matter of wanting to retool around Barnes and OG and finding players who are more age and salary appropriate than what they have in Siakam and maybe FVV.