Carroll deal, Diaw buzz set wheels in motion
Jazz forward on radar after swap with Nets clears final hurdle
The floodgates are open and Masai Ujiri’s summer wheeling and dealing has officially commenced.
With the Brooklyn Nets out from under an offer sheet they gave Washington’s Otto Porter, a deal for Toronto’s DeMarre Carroll could be officially completed, setting in motion a string of Raptors moves that may grow past the expected.
The deal — Carroll and a protected firstround pick next June plus a secondround pick, also in 2018, for centre Justin Hamilton — is the first tumbler to fall into place.
The Nets needed the Wizards to sign Porter so they’d have the money to assume Carroll’s deal; the Raptors needed Carroll officially off the books to manage other imminent moves.
Making the Carroll deal official — and Toronto is expected to waive Hamilton to ease a glut of big men on the roster — now leads the Raptors down a path to finish their summer reconstruction process.
They are expected to finalize, in the next day or so, a deal that will see Cory Joseph land in Indianapolis with C.J. Miles arrive in Toronto, and free up money — should they want to spend it — to attract additional players.
And according to NBA sources, Toronto has at least had initial contact with the Utah Jazz about forward Boris Diaw.
Diaw, 35, will be moved somewhere by the weekend. Whether he’s traded and waived is up in the air, as is any firm destination for the six-foot-eight, 16-year NBA veteran who played sparingly (about 17 minutes a game) for the Jazz last season.
The Salt Lake Tribune, citing sources, reported Wednesday morning that the Raptors had reached out to the Jazz for at least a preliminary chat about Diaw, who famously was close to becoming a Raptor in 2010. He was part of a multi-player deal involving Toronto’s Jose Calderon and Reggie Evans and Charlotte’s Tyson Chandler and Diaw that was a nixed by the Bobcats after representatives of some of the players involved had been told the deal was done.
Diaw has to be traded or waived by Utah before Saturday, when his $7.5million contract for next season becomes fully guaranteed.
NBA sources confirmed interest from Toronto, but said nothing was imminent.
It’s unclear whether the Raptors would trade for Diaw and take his salary using a trade exception created by the Carroll deal, or wait and sign him after he’s waived. It could all be moot, though. While his role on good teams has fallen off in the last couple of seasons, Diaw is still a coveted player throughout the league and is sure to garner wide interest beyond Toronto.
Where or how Diaw would fit on the Raptors is a question.
There is no doubting his basketball smarts, and he’s been lauded everywhere he’s been as a top-shelf teammate, but an undersized big man not known for his athleticism or shooting would be a difficult fit with the Toronto roster.
But whatever happens with him, the Raptors are now on the path to effectively trading Patrick Patterson, P.J. Tucker and Joseph for a full season of Serge Ibaka and Miles, a 30year-old forward with solid threepoint shooting range.
The moves will also free up playing time for emerging forward Norm Powell and third-year point guard Delon Wright as the Raptors start thinking about the longer-term future while cementing their position in the Eastern Conference in the near term.
Losing two draft picks in the Carroll trade is eased by the fact that half of Toronto’s roster comprises players currently on rookie-scale contracts, so there is an abundance of youth around the team.
And by putting lottery protection on the first-round pick — meaning Toronto keeps it if the season turns out to be a complete disaster and Raptors miss the playoffs — they have guarded against a season that goes totally off the rails.