The February 9, 2023, NBA trade deadline will be here before we know it, which means the NBA trade chatter is heating up. One player who is definitely on the block is San Antonio Spurs center Jakob Poeltl. There are plenty of teams who could use this versatile, talented big man, including the Toronto Raptors. If a Jakob Poeltl-Raptors move is in the cards, Toronto will have to come up with a better deal than other suitors, such as the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, and Dallas Mavericks. With that in mind, here is the Perfect offer the Raptors must make to the Spurs to facilitate a Jakob Poeltl trade.
Raptors get Jakob Poeltl, Spurs get Khem Birch, and a first-round draft pick
No team in the NBA outside of the Spurs knows Jakob Poeltl better than the Raptors. The Eastern Conference team drafted the Austrian center out of Utah with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.
In his two seasons with the Raptors, Poeltl only averaged around 15 minutes and, at his best, scored 6.9 points and pulled down 4.8 rebounds per game. Still, he is a major part of the Raptors' history. That’s because he was part of the trade that brought Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors and, subsequently, an NBA title to Toronto.
Fast forward four-plus seasons and Poeltl has turned into the player the Raptors thought he could be when they drafted him. This season, the center is averaging 12.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.0 blocks. He’s also an excellent defender and rim-protector.
Adding Jakob Poeltl to the Raptors would help the team immensely, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Currently, the team’s best five-man lineup is Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, and Pascal Siakam. That lineup struggles to get offensive rebounds, gives up too many offensive rebounds, and allows the opposing team a high effective field goal percentage, per Cleaning the Glass.
A Jakob Poeltl trade solves, or at least helps, these three issues for the Raptors. The center is averaging 3.9 offensive rebounds a game and 6.0 defensive rebounds. His 14.9% offensive rebound rate is fourth in the NBA this year, and his 25.9% defensive rate is 16th. Poeltl also has a 1.2 defensive win share and an even defensive box plus/minus. However, it would stand to reason that those numbers would increase dramatically on a winning team.
And, the best part is, they wouldn’t have to give up a key piece to get him. What they would have to give up is a first-round pick.
The best Jakob Poeltl-Raptors trade involves sending the Spurs reserve center Khem Birch (and his $6.6 million contract, and a future first-rounder. What gives the Raptors a bit of an advantage in this deal is that they are one of the few contending teams in the entire league that has all their first-round picks from now until 2029. The only pick they owe is a 2024 second to the Memphis Grizzlies.
This means that they can give the Spurs a pick this season if they prefer or something further down the line. The one caveat here is that if it is a pick in 2024 or beyond, the Raptors should put a top-10 or lottery protection on it, just in case.
The Spurs will like this deal because it gives them a first-round pick. Other deals may be for young players, but at this point, the Spurs are in a long-term rebuild project, and the picks are more valuable. As for Birch, he is not an expiring contract, but his $6.9 million isn’t a terrible number, and the Spurs have to pay someone, right?
With the way things stand right now, the Spurs should prefer a Raptors pick over one from a team higher up the standings, like the Celtics, or a team with superstars and the potential to win it all like the Lakers, Mavericks, or Warriors.
So, Khem Burch and a first-rounder are what a Jakob Poeltl-Raptors trade would look like. That would help accelerate the Spurs’ rebuild and get them something for Poeltl, who won’t re-sign with the team this offseason. And for Toronto, a Jakob Poeltl trade helps their rebounding and defensive woes.
If Poeltl can truly turn the Raptors around, they have a real chance to host a first-round playoff series in 2023. They currently sit in seventh place in the East (13-12) and are squarely in the play-in tournament. With Poeltl, the team could be the fourth-best in their conference, vaulting over the Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks, and Brooklyn Nets.
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