The huge trade of birds of prey calls for Siakam, Anunoby

In the coming days, many eyes in the basketball world will be on the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors are sinking in the Eastern Conference standings, having lost 10 of their last 13 games. That dropped their record to 16-22 in the NBA season and to 12th in the Eastern Conference.

They are only one game behind the 10th-place Chicago Bulls, but if they don’t catch up in the rankings soon, they could be surprise sellers before the deadline. There are many teams in the league that are probably hoping for this to happen, as the Raptors have some very good players on their roster that could propel other teams to the contender’s level.

Gary Trent Jr. has been mentioned in numerous trade rumors and is considered the most likely on the move. Teams are now asking for Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby as well. To the surprise of no one, the asking price is extremely high for both of them.

“Or maybe they’re going all in and considering trading Siakam and Anunoby for what would probably be a huge return on picks and young talent.” Sportsnet’s Michael Grange wrote. “‘As-load’ was a league insider’s ballpark estimate.”

That seems to be the consensus based on various sources in the league. The sources that Action Network’s Matt Moore spoke described Toronto’s asking price as insane, astronomical and far-fetched.

LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby & Toronto Raptors Updates

Based on that information, it doesn’t sound like any deals will be made with the main Raptor players. However, if their current homestand doesn’t go well, management and ownership thinking may change.

The six-game homestand got off to a bad start as the Raptors lost to the Milwaukee Bucks. They should start building positive momentum as they will play in 10 of the 13 games down the road leading up to the trade deadline.

LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby & Toronto Raptors Updates

These next five games are absolutely necessary as they can set the direction they take the franchise. As they move up the leaderboard, they can convince themselves to become buyers and upgrade the roster. If they continue to stumble, the rebuild that many people thought would happen in 2022 could be on the table before the 2023 deadline.