OG Anunoby to the Houston Rockets
(*This trade is only a potential option if the Rockets land James Harden*)
This is another trade centered around the Raptors acquiring a promising young player and one of the top picks in this year’s draft (along with a future pick swap)
Kevin Porter Jr. averaged 19.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.4 steals per game in his age-22 season in a career year in 2022-23. He shot 44.2% from the field and 36.6% from three on the year. KPJ had some maturity issues early in his career, but he has rectified that recently in Houston, and had the best year of his career this year. While Porter Jr. had a strong year, the Rockets might be forced to move on from either him or Jalen Green if they do land Harden. I think the Rockets would elect to hold onto Green, I don’t think it would make much sense to move on from the 2021 No. 2 overall pick just in the hopes of competing around Harden.
Here the Raptors also get the right to select whoever they feel is the top player in the draft outside of the consensus top 3. Whether they favor Amen Thompson, Jarace Walker, Anthony Black, Taylor Hendricks, Cam Whitmore, or Ausar Thompson, the Raptors would land one of the top players in the draft. There is a consensus top 3, but Toronto would essentially control the draft board after that with a chance to pick who they feel is the best of the rest. In our trade here, Toronto would also pick up the right to swap picks with Brooklyn in 2027 if the Nets end up picking higher than the Raptors.
As we have mentioned throughout this article, the Raptors’ exact core will depend on what happens elsewhere on their roster with VanVleet, Siakam, and Trent Jr. However, coming out of this trade they would have a strong young core of at least Barnes, KPJ, and whoever they pick at 4.
From Houston’s perspective, If the Rockets are able to make the James Harden return come to fruition, then they might need to make a few other changes to put a more win-now roster around him. The Rockets are a team with a complicated asset situation (due to their trade sending Harden to the Nets in 2021 and their acquisition of Russell Westbrook in 2019). While it wouldn’t make sense for the Rockets to cash in all of their picks/young players to go win-now, they might be able to make a trade like this one.
Anunoby is a guy that can work well with Harden on both ends of the court. His shooting should pair very well with Harden’s playmaking (along with playmaking from Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun). He should also help out the team a lot defensively.
The Rockets starting 5 would then look like James Harden-Jalen Green-OG Anunoby-Jabari Smith Jr.-Alperen Sengun. Also, still just 25 years old, Anunoby can still fit into a long-term future for the Raptors alongside the young trio of Green (21 years old), Smith Jr. (20), and Sengun (20) and Houston won’t have gutted themselves asset wise.
KPJ’s and Anunoby’s contracts are also near washes, meaning that both teams should be able to make this deal while being over the cap.