Toronto Raptors: 3 trades team should make before deadline

3. Courtney Lee

This could be the perfect trade for both teams, which all but enhances the argument of it ultimately going through during the following weeks of trade activities. Courtney Lee to the Toronto Raptors seems like the perfect fit to help both teams accomplish their respective goals.

Courtney Lee has officially fallen out of his team’s rotation, making him totally superfluous to the New York Knicks. But why exactly would the Toronto Raptors want a player that struggles to get playing time on a 10-win team?

Well, it’s not that Lee isn’t good enough to play for the Knicks, as his lack of playing time comes from David Fizdale’s decision to give most of the minutes to his younger guys. What this does is help the young and inexperienced Knicks develop more quickly than sitting on the bench would do.

By trading for Courtney Lee, the Raptors would get the perfect guy to fit in their system without giving up too much. Call him a Danny Green 2.0., if you may.

During his 10-year span in the NBA, Lee has shot over 40 percent in 6 of those seasons, excluding the ongoing season, of course, due to a lack of games. He could be a huge boost off the bench and a serious target to consider for a trade in the near future.

The biggest problem with this trade is the Knicks are set to be very active during the 2019 free agency. Trading away Lee is a goal of theirs to free up cap space, but they’d be exchanging his $12.8 million salary next year for $10.1 million on Norman Powell‘s contract and the $8.7 million player option C.J. Miles would likely opt into.

If that’s the case, the Raptors could try something like Miles and Greg Monroe for Lee straight up, without Mario Hezonja or Powell being involved.