Siakam for Scoot sounds fun but history shows big moves like that rare

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Published Jun 21, 2023 • 2 minute read

Pascal Siakam of the Toronto Raptors. Photo by Adam Hunger /Getty Images

The NBA’s rumour mill is highly entertaining, particularly in the days leading to the draft and that has been the case this year, too.

There has been all kinds of talk that Charlotte, picking second, Portland, selecting third and perhaps another team or two were preparing to make a major deal, some of this chatter has even been connected to the Raptors, but the truth is, those top picks rarely move on draft night.

Toronto has participated in 27 drafts since joining the NBA. Just once has the franchise moved a lottery selection for a veteran — Jonathan Bender, the fifth pick in 1999, was dealt for Antonio Davis on draft night, though it couldn’t become official until later that summer. The only other two big draft night swaps the team has made were Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison flip-flopping in 1998 and a cap-saving move in 2002 that saw Toronto drop from 20 to 27.

Glen Grunwald made all those moves for Toronto. The six Raptors general managers who have followed have yet to even do it once.

For the league in general, big swaps at the top are extremely uncommon.

Since the Y2K scare (kids, look it up), Top 8 picks have only been moved for veterans 13 times, according to The Ringer, and only eight of those deals involved Top 5 selections.

Most notably, Cleveland moved Canadian Andrew Wiggins (No. 1 in 2014) to Minnesota for Kevin Love, which helped the Cavaliers end Cleveland’s championship drought, the Los Angeles Lakers turned De’Andre Hunter (No. 4 in 2019) and a lot more into Anthony Davis, which also resulted in a championship, and Boston dealt Jeff Green (No. 5 in 2007) to Seattle for Ray Allen, which led to, you guessed it, a title.

The other notable moves like this include the Los Angeles Clippers trading Tyson Chandler (No. 2 in 2001) to Chicago for Elton Brand, that same year Atlanta moving Pau Gasol (No. 3) for Shareef Abdur-Rahim as the Grizzlies moved from Vancouver to Memphis, New Orleans turning Nerlens Noel (No. 6 in 2013) into Jrue Holiday and Minnesota trading Lauri Markkanen (No. 7 in 2017), plus other assets to Chicago for Jimmy Butler.

Far more often though, any of these talks simply don’t pan out. Only four of these deals happened in the last decade. Don’t get your hopes up for Scoot Henderson or Brandon Miller moving to the Raptors for Pascal Siakam, or to the Hornets for Brandon Ingram, or anything like that.

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