More NBA trade rumors concerning the Philadelphia 76ers twin centers swirl around the league and a new team has emerged.
The Toronto Raptors were two games away from the NBA Finals but they just couldn't get past the hump that was LeBron James and the Cavaliers. The grim part is that the team they might be unlikely to do so.
While the Raptors are a strong team, this group may have reached its peak. They don't have cap space and only has the Bird Rights to re-sign DeMar DeRozan. Reserve center Bismack Biyombo, who emerged as a force in the Eastern Conference Finals, is also a free agent will probably take a higher offer with another team that the Raptors can't match because they don't have Biyombo's Bird Rights.
Not only that, they still have a gaping hole to fill at power forward, as Dave Zarum of Sportsnet Canada quoted GM Masai Ujiri addressing that.
"The way the NBA is going," Ujiri said, "and also the emergence of Valanciunas and Biyombo, [power forward] is a position where we really kind of have to get creative there and figure out what's going to work, not only financially and not only fitting with the cap but also the type of player that we bring."\
With the power forward need established, Bret Stuter of The Sixer Sense brought up the interesting possibility that the Raptors may be inclined to trade Kyle Lowry and let DeRozan walk.
"But the Toronto Raptors are disappointed in their playoff performance, so that rumors are beginning to swirl about the possibility of the team parting ways with DeMar DeRozan via free agency and Kyle Lowry via trade," as Stuter's article claimed.
It was quite confounding because the initial reaction of the Raptors, even their fan base, was that the season on the overall was a success. Giving the benefit of the doubt, Stuter then suggested that the Sixers who are in need of a point guard, preferably one who can lead, use their links to the Raptors (Sixers GM Bryan Colangelo traded for Lowry and drafted DeRozan) to acquire their services.
How will they address the power forward need for Toronto? Jahlil Okafor would be "the creative solution" as Stuter suggests. He argues that "he may be a defensive liability at the four, but he will be surrounded by a stronger line up in Toronto."
As other power forwards in the league would be overpriced or maxed out, a trade may be the best solution for Raptors and Okafor has played with alongside center Nerlens Noel in his rookie season. It is possible that he can adjust.
The Okafor-Lowry trade is still hypothetical at this point, as proposed by The Sixer Sense writer but there could be a possibility that it can materialize.