NBA Rumors: Why The Raptors Backed Out Of Porzingis Trade Talks

February 19, 2022 , ,


The morning of the NBA trade deadline, rumors circulated of the Toronto Raptors' interest in then-Dallas Maverick Kristaps Porzingis. There was a 1st-round pick on the table in return, likely in addition to Goran Dragic. It's a deal that the Mavs were ready to pounce on.

But according to NBA Insider Marc Stein on his Spotify Greenroom podcast, "the Raptors backed away. They took themselves out of the talks; they just decided that it wasn't a health risk that they wanted to take."

Porzingis, of course, has faced a litany of injuries in his career; he missed half of the 2017-18 season and the entire 2018-19 season with the New York Knicks after a torn ACL; he suffered a variety of knee, heel and ankle issues while with the Mavericks the past three seasons. He's missed 188 of his teams' 370 games over the past 4 1/2 seasons—just over 50%. 

Raptors president Masai Ujiri obviously felt that kind of injury risk wasn't worth a 1st-round draft pick. Instead, they acquired Thad Young from the San Antonio Spurs for the estranged guard Dragic. 

As for the Mavs, only the Washington Wizards were left to take KP off their hands, and according to Stein, the Wiz "wanted off of (Davis) Bertans and (Spencer) Dinwiddie as badly, if not even more than the Mavs wanted off of Porzingis."

Photo Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports




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