There are now at least four contending teams said to have registered interest in Toronto Raptors wing Bruce Brown ahead of the trade deadline. The New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers have been among the teams most connected to the 27-year-old Brown since Toronto acquired him from the Indiana Pacers in a deal for Pascal Siakam. Both teams reportedly tried to pursue Brown during free agency last summer before he signed with the Pacers, per The Athletic’s Fred Katz and Shams Charania. More recently, the Dallas Mavericks and Milwaukee Bucks have popped up as potential landing spots for Brown as well, according to Yahoo’s Jake Fischer and HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.
It’s tough to see Toronto working out a trade with the Bucks who would have to include Bobby Portis in a trade with the Raptors. It could become a three-team deal in which Portis goes elsewhere, but the Bucks don’t have much in terms of trade capital that would interest Toronto. As for the Mavericks, matching salary is a little easier to navigate, but all of Dallas’ highly-paid players are on multi-year deals which would limit Toronto’s flexibility moving forward. Toronto is said to be looking for a first-round pick and a “quality player” for Brown, per Marc Stein.
Brown did not play in the fourth quarter of Toronto’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies earlier this week and it looks like the Raptors are determined to move him ahead of the trade deadline. It would be shocking if Toronto did opt to keep Brown who has a $23 million team option for next season. The 6-foot-4 Brown is averaging 11.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game this season while shooting 48.1% from the field.
