Latest NBA Offseason Intel: Does OG Anunoby Want out of Toronto?

OG Anunoby is one of the more intriguing names to emerge in early league trade chatter.

According to reports, Anunoby grew dissatisfied with his role in Toronto, where he was used as a ball-handler in Nick Nurse's team.

Two sources with knowledge of the dynamic told B/R that Anunoby has not expressed discontent with his situation with the Raptors. Maybe the conversation around him has been driven by external interest in acquiring the fifth-year forward's services.

The Raptors have postured with opposing teams that all of their top six, including Anunoby, Barnes, Siakam, VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr. and Precious Achiuwa, are not for sale. Toronto is known to want a starting center. The Raptors pursued Allen last summer. Toronto contacted San Antonio about Jakob Poeltl in February, after flirting with Indiana. The Raptors would have to sacrifice one of those players if they were to land a center of that caliber.

If Anunoby becomes available, expect a lot of interest. Anunoby has deep postseason experience and is a proven blue-chip prospect. He signed a four-year, $72 million extension in 2020 and is playing under a value contract.

Utah and Portland have been linked by league personnel.

NBA sources say Rudy Gobert is one of the Raptors targets to satisfy its appetite for a starting rim-protector. There is much debate around the league and among Utah staffers about whether moving Gobert, the Jazz's true defensive lynchpin, is the most effective way to improve Utah's issues guarding on the perimeter.

Toronto would need to sign another contract to match Gobert's salary, which will range from $38.2 million to $46.7 million between 2022-23 and 25-26. Including Trent, another two-way perimeter force, would make the math work, but that cost might be too rich for Toronto and would leave the Raptors with little proven shooting. Early word from league personnel suggests the Raptors value Siakam more than Gobert.

Anunoby is believed to be one of the primary targets for the Trail Blazers if they choose to trade the No. 7 pick.

The trade exception from the deal that sentCJ McCollum to New Orleans is $20.9 million. There is a chance that Portland will create cap space to land a max free agent such as LaVine, but all indications are that the team will guarantee Josh Hart's $12.9 million for next season. The deadline to guarantee Hart is two days after the NBA draft and a week before free agency begins.

Picking up Hart's money would require the Blazers to give up their rights to free agents Jusuf Nurkic and Anfernee Simons in order to still create space for a major free-agent acquisition like LaVine. The most likely way for Portland to acquire a splashy counterpart for Lillard is via trade exception, and Anunoby would be a home run addition in that scenario.

The Raptors would need more than Hart and the seventh pick to part with Anunoby, according to league personnel. The trade value of Anunoby is greater than Detroit's known asking price for Grant: two first-round picks or a first and a promising rookies.

New York Knicks' Point Guard Search 

The main focus of New York is to improve at the point guard position, but acquiring Utah's other All-Star, Donovan Mitchell, is highly unlikely. Mitchell has three years left on his contract before a player option, even if he requests a trade from the Jazz. There is healthy skepticism around the NBA that New York's best offer for Mitchell would trump other teams' pursuit, such as a potential package from Miami that would theoretically center around Tyler Herro plus other salary and multiple first-round picks.

There is a growing sense among league personnel that the Mavericks will return to Dallas after the Western Conference Finals. After the Mavericks loss to Golden State, Mark Cuban made sure to tell Marc Stein that he was confident in keeping him. Dallas can give him an additional fifth year and give him more money than New York. The recent five-year, $125 million extension in Atlanta may be a good benchmark for John Collins to keep him in Dallas.

Significant cap-sheet changes are required for the Knicks to offer a four-year rate. They were close to sending Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel out at the February trade deadline. The league believes New York would have to trade the 11th pick in the June draft or promising point guard Immanuel Quickley in order to move off unwanted contracts.

The Knicks can propose something that Dallas can't: an unquestioned role as the starting point guard and lead ball-handler. In Dallas, he will always be Luka Doncic's sidekick. In Detroit, the Pistons are said to think of Brunson as a similar counterpart to Cunningham. It would seem that the one bird in New York's hand is the one who wants to be the true table-setting of a team's offense.

In the point guard conversation, word of New York's interest in Jaden Ivey has been repeated many times by league personnel. In the first six picks of the draft, the Indiana Pacers are considered by several executives as his floor, and that is all but assured for Ivey.

Rival executives have pointed to D&Angelo Russell as a potential lower-level trade target as the Knicks work down the list of their point guard options. The New York front office has added a former Minnesota president of basketball operations who once tried to sign Russell in free agency.

Sources said that the Knicks are not going to make a run at him. The combo guard is a restricted free agent and the team wants to keep him, but finding a salary figure that keeps him in Cleveland may be difficult. The states of Indiana, Detroit and Washington have been mentioned as possible landing spots.

Sources told B/R that the Pistons are expected to use their cap space to acquire an impact player. Detroit is said to be interested in Mitchell Robinson and Deandre Ayton, both of whom are restricted free-agents.

Charlotte Hornets' Coaching Search

The Charlotte Hornets are the only team left without a coach after the Los Angeles Lakers named Darvin Ham as their next play-caller.

Sources said that Ham was going to meet with Charlotte this Tuesday before agreeing on a four-year deal with the Lakers. The sitdown would have been the first development in his coaching search since he spent a week in Los Angeles for agency workouts and pro days before the draft. Sources told B/R that the multiyear contract extension that he announced during a recent media availability is for two more seasons.

The final two names being considered to replace James Borrego are former Houston head coach Mike D'Antoni and Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson. Sources say that no candidate has met with Charlotte governor Michael Jordan. After Jordan returns from his market vacation, that round of interviews could begin as early as this week.

When league personnel descended upon Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine, it was rumored that the Hornets were gaining some traction in their search. Sources said that he phoned several current Hornets staffers and league personnel and projected great confidence that the job would ultimately be his. Several people close to the coach said that the research calls were a trademark of the coach's personality and approach.

The true front-runner for the position has been D&Antoni. D'Antoni is known for his offensive principles and his previous success in getting Steve Nash in Phoenix and James Harden in the Houston Rockets, so he is seen by some as the ideal coach to oversee the next step of LaMelo Ball's progression as an elite point guard. A source with knowledge of the franchise told B/R that D'Antoni's profile appears to be more of the preference of Charlotte's Jordan-led group.

A young team hoping to rise out of the Eastern Conference play-in tournament and into the playoffs would seem to fit in with the background of the head coach, who has success in player development.

According to various league figures, the similarities between Borrego and Atkinson may help lead to D'Antoni's hire. Charlotte brass wanted a different voice and direction than Borrego's, sources said, but the Hornets had no specific profile for their next head coach.

Jake is the author of Built to Lose: How the NBA's Tanking Era Changed the League forever.