Wiggins to Toronto? Breaking down Raptors-Warriors trade rumours

When the Toronto Raptors made their biggest trade in years on December 30, it offered the chance for a top Canadian NBA Draft pick to return home.

RJ Barrett came to his hometown of Toronto alongside Immanuel Quickley from the New York Knicks, and the pair has seamlessly slotted into the team’s starting lineup.

But ahead of next month’s NBA trade deadline, there are at least a few rumblings that Toronto native and 2014 first-overall pick Andrew Wiggins could be the next Canadian NBA player to head to the Raptors.

The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami is one of those predicting a possible trade for Wiggins before the NBA’s deadline on February 9, while Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer mentioned he’d heard Wiggins connected to the Indiana Pacers.

"I think [the Warriors] are going to trade Andrew Wiggins. He's the first decision. What can they get for him? What do they have to do to move off of him?"

– @timkawakami on the Warriors' thought process heading into the trade deadline (via @WillardAndDibs).

— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) January 11, 2024

In any case, he seems very much available to be had by a willing team, whether that’s Toronto or elsewhere.

It’s been a tough year for Wiggins, who has averaged 11.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 33 games this season.

That’s a far cry from when he averaged 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 22 games in the 2022 playoffs en route to winning the NBA title.

He’s been out of the Warriors’ starting lineup for all but one of his last 12 appearances, clearly falling out of favour with Golden State coach Steve Kerr just two seasons after making an NBA All-Star Game.

Of course, any trade is much easier said than done: for every deal that actually goes through, there are tens if not hundreds of others that never come to fruition. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Toronto has made just three trades in that time span.

In any case, let’s take a look at the rumours and possible framework of such a deal.

How likely is a trade between the Warriors and Raptors?

Let’s start with the current state of the teams: Toronto is 15-23 and 12th in the Eastern Conference, while the Warriors sit at 17-20 and 12th in the Western Conference, not exactly doing much better.

But there’s one major difference between the two teams: only one of them has future Hall of Famer Steph Curry on the roster, who is set to turn 36 this season.

There are only so many kicks at the can that the Warriors will have left with Curry, and a team like Golden State is more likely to prioritize doing what they can to win in the near future than thinking too many years down the road. Trading away Wiggins would be a move that would reshape Golden State’s rotations, with likely multiple players involved in the deal.

For Toronto, it’d be a continuation of their much-need retooling, with the franchise struggling to return to the form that saw it as one of the NBA’s top teams throughout the 2010s.

What players could be involved in the trade?

From Toronto’s perspective, their biggest trade chip is Pascal Siakam — a two-time NBA All-Star and two-time All-NBA player in the final year of his contract and has been in all sorts of trade rumours over the last two seasons.

The Athletic’s Eric Koreen reported this week that the Warriors and Raptors were talking about a possible deal for Siakam.

Siakam has averaged 22.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in 37 games this season, as he leads Toronto in scoring for the fifth season in a row.

From an age perspective, the two players aren’t that far apart: just 10 months separate Wiggins and Siakam, with the pair being born in 1995 and 1994, respectively.

Wiggins still has a big chunk of his $109 million contract remaining: it goes through the 2026-27 season, with a player option for the final year. For a struggling player, having that long-term attached isn’t necessarily a positive for a new team. Siakam meanwhile, is in the final year of a four-year, $136 million contract, and is seeking a big next deal come the summer.

Even though he might be the most notable name to come to Toronto via a trade with Golden State, Wiggins would have to be just part of the deal in order to make it make sense for both sides.

The Warriors also carry two other intriguing talents that were taken at seventh and 14th in the 2021 NBA draft: Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. Both are in year three of their NBA careers and remain on their rookie contracts through next season. Landing one or both of Kuminga or Moody would be the likely ideal targets for Toronto.

Kuminga has averaged 12.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 36 games this season in 22.8 minutes per game, while Moody has averaged 8.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in 34 games in 18.0 minutes per game.

Does a deal with Golden State make much sense for the Raptors? Potentially, but it’s a big risk and a big gamble with considerable downside if Wiggins doesn’t trend back in a positive direction.

With plenty of suitors likely interested in Siakam and Wiggins, we’ll see soon enough where exactly the Raptors end up after the trade deadline.

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