Raptors buy-low – With Memphis reportedly eager to move on from Ja Morant, Toronto is being urged to make a buy-low swing—potentially bringing in both Morant and Santi Aldama for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a protected first-round pick.
The Raptors don’t have to land a superstar the usual way. They’ve spent years running up against the same ceiling in free agency—players won’t take the leap. for reasons as mundane as the cold and as complicated as taxes. and the team’s recruiting challenges have cost them the kind of big-time construction that can shorten rebuild timelines.
So the offseason pitch is simple, even if the player it revolves around isn’t: make a trade that’s built for the moment. In Memphis, a fresh era around the No. 3 pick has been discussed for some time, and the name attached to that pivot is Ja Morant.
It’s known around the league that the Grizzlies front office is eager to dump Morant and usher in something new. And Morant. right now. qualifies as the kind of buy-low target teams circle—between off-court issues. injuries. and declining efficiency. he hasn’t looked like the version of himself that once operated at a higher gear.
The proposal being floated for Toronto is aggressive in scope and specific in the return: the Raptors would land both Ja Morant and Santi Aldama in exchange for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and a protected first-round pick.
To be clear, the trade’s appeal hinges on a mismatch between market value and current perception. Morant may be far from what fans remember. but the argument goes that his talent still sits in the neighborhood of a borderline top-10 player when he’s operating like he can. If Toronto can get back to that form—and move on from a bad contract while doing it—this becomes an offseason move the Raptors can actually build a structure around.
That’s where the money matters. The deal would be able to dump off Quickley’s remaining three-year $97.5 million contract. The other part of the flexibility comes from age and term: Morant has one less year on his contract than Quickley, which could open up more long-term maneuvering down the line.
There’s also a roster logic to why Santi Aldama is paired with Morant. The Raptors have struggled with floor spacing, and the case for adding Aldama is that he can complement Morant in the frontcourt—creating shooting and spacing alongside him rather than asking everyone to chase the same gaps.
But the spacing critique doesn’t fully disappear. Morant has his own track record issues from the perimeter. He’s a career 31.1% three-point shooter. and the worry raised is that he still struggles to create consistently from the perimeter. If the Raptors are trading for a player who needs his own scoring habits rediscovered. Toronto has to get more than points out of the move.
The real question, then, isn’t only lineup fit. It’s the one the proposal keeps coming back to: can Toronto help Morant rekindle the passion that made him look unstoppable early in his career?
A big part of that answer is tied to Darko Rajakovic. The argument here is that Rajakovic wasn’t just a coach in name—he was a developmental coach during Morant’s rise with the Grizzlies. If Morant’s confidence and joy are the missing piece. the belief is that Rajakovic could be the kind of voice that gets him back to the way he played when he entered the league.
This matters because Toronto has shown a track record of repairing star value after arrivals that looked shaky on paper. Kawhi Leonard and Brandon Ingram were both names fans worried might be damaged goods when they came to Toronto. and the team’s medical staff helped them turn it around. The same hope is applied to Morant at 26 years old. with the argument that he’s entering his prime rather than drifting past it.
If the trade is really about upside, the numbers offered are blunt. From 2021-23, Morant averaged 26-27 points and 6-8 assists per game on high efficiency. The case is that when he’s producing at that level, Toronto wins games—and not just in flashes.
Even the roster consequence is part of the pitch. The move would address multiple needs at once: making Sandro Mamukelashvili more expendable. upgrading the guard position. and giving Toronto a No. 1 option to pair with Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram. The concern isn’t whether the Raptors would change their style. The concern is whether they can trust themselves to bring the right version of Morant back.
For a team that has struggled to recruit big-name players in free agency. that’s what this offseason swing is really about: not waiting for the easy market to offer what it won’t. but betting on recovery. coaching fit. and timing—because the chance to buy low doesn’t come often. and Memphis’s reported desire to move on suggests the window might not last.
Toronto Raptors Ja Morant Memphis Grizzlies Santi Aldama RJ Barrett Immanuel Quickley Brandon Ingram Scottie Barnes offseason trade Darko Rajakovic