2. Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors were also named as a frontrunner for a Kevin Durant. Toronto has shown in the past that they are willing to make aggressive moves and trade for All-NBA forwards in pursuit of winning the NBA Championship.
Brooklyn is going to be asking for a package centered around Scottie Barnes but there is no chance that the Raptors would make that deal with the reigning Rookie of the Year. Barnes is a special player and the Raptors are not even close to being desperate enough to trade him.
That being said, it would not be absurd if the team traded Pascal Siakam in a deal for Durant. While Siakam turned it up later in the season last season, he is still a worse forward than KD and trading for KD would make Toronto better.
A package of Siakam, Khem Birch and a boatload of picks would work monetarily for both sides. That is really the only package the Raptors could offer that does not include Barnes as the other potential packages would not work monetarily.
This would be an interesting situation for the Lakers. If Durant goes to Toronto and Kyrie goes to LA that could end up being the two teams in the NBA Finals. If so, the Lakers’ new point guard would not even be able to play road games.