Winner: Toronto RaptorsAlso, It’s a win in the big picture because the Raptors have picked and committed to a direction for the franchise, rebuilding around Scottie Barnes, something they needed to do.
Can this be because the coach of Raptors talk about Barnes being the face of the league? He talk about it during postgame interview on their loss to the LA Lakers where he was complaining about the foul called in the 4th quarter that he think obviously favor the Lakers.
So if Barnes is going to be the main star player of the Raptors, that's quite interesting because he isn't really score a lot, like this season he only averated 20PPG, without Siakam, can that improve?
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/barnesc01.htmlThe face of the league, I doubt that. The face of the Toronto Raptors, yes that's possible. That's their goal for now. Surround Scottie Barnes with good players or maybe they could get lucky in the draft picks and acquire good players that will be paired with him. Sadly, this might take years for the Raptors to rebuild and it's not like chemistry can be rushed. Barnes, Schroder, Barrett, and Trent Jr, are strong players but they lack bench strength. They cannot play the entire game so they need actually to build back up players and maybe one more that would step up his game to climb the first five.
Bruce Brown is now a big help in defense but they badly need shooters too. Trent Jr. is the only one who could make it at a high percentage and one shooter cannot spread the floor.
About the player who was waived by the Raptors Christian Koloko. It's not just to open space but there's also a health issue lingering the big man.
Now, we know why. Koloko is dealing with career-threatening blood clots, according to Shams Charania.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/the-big-man-the-raptors-waived-to-complete-pascal-siakam-trade-has-career-threatening-blood-clots-per-report/"The NBA informed teams today that Christian Koloko has been referred to the NBA's Fitness-to-Play Panel," Charania said. "That essentially means that he's unable to play or practice in the NBA until he's cleared. There's been no shortage of suitors, of teams interested in Koloko, calling his camp ever since he was waived yesterday by the Raptors to make space for that Pascal Siakam trade. I'm told that the reason he has this career-threatening issue is a blood clot situation, a source close to him told me."
No shortage of suitors. I am glad to hear that. Now, he just need to clear that health problem and I am sure he can come back once he is okay.