u/IamSofakingRAW

A guard? Blasphemy!!

Please watch this dude and try to convince yourself he's any worse than Acuff or Fleming. Absolute nasty ball handling ability, managed an extremely high usage with pretty great efficiency and huge scoring totals. From January till April he averaged 24/4/4 on 49/38/83 splits while completely carrying his team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6p_RHDTM40

He just measured at 6'1 (6'3 in shoes) with a 6'8 wingspan, similar to Donovan Mitchell at the same height with a 6'10 wingspan. He has great athleticism as well.

I understand this team needs a centre but I won't be surprised if this time next year we see another Ajay Mitchell situation with a star drafted mad late inexplicably

Denver out: Christian Braun, Jonas Valanciunas + DEN 2026 FRP
Denver In: Jakob Poeltl, Gradey Dick, LAL 2026 SRP, TOR 2026 SRP

Toronto In: Christian Braun, Jonas Valanciunas + DEN 2026 FRP
Toronto Out: Jakob Poeltl, Gradey Dick, LAL 2026 SRP, TOR 2026 SRP

Rationale for Denver:
I know the knee jerk reaction is “Poeltl contract is so bad!!” But in totality he is owed about $56 million over the next 2 seasons with the 3rd season only 5 million guaranteed.

The Nuggets are likely going to be in a major roster restructuring to save money given they will need to resign Watson and extend Cam Jo.

Braun was awful this year and is overpaid, he is due to make another $100M guaranteed over the next 4 years. Jonas is a decent backup but Jakob is objectively better than him. Gradey can be retained on a minimum deal as a rehabilitation project. He is a good open 3pt shooter and playing next to Jokic may unlock him. The Nuggets give up their late first this year as compensation for the Raptors shaving 5M off the Nuggets books this year and facilitating them having a pathway to keeping Watson and Cam Johnson long term. They use the obtained second round picks this year to round out the bench with cheaper older college prospects (SRPs are also cheaper than FRPs to save a bit extra)

Murray/Watson/Cam/Gordon/Jokic
Pickett/Gradey/Strawther/Nnaji/Poeltl

Rationale for Toronto

Clear rotation spot for CMB to start and bring in a vet big (happy reunion for Raptor fans) to back him up against bigger centres. Braun will likely be a bench wing for the team to fill the role currently occupied by Battle/Lawson. His shooting has dipped but against bench lineups in a different role he may look better. Raptors pick up an extra late first to add shooting through the draft (or package both picks to attempt to move up and get one stellar prospect).

IQ/RJ/BI/Scottie/CMB
Shead/JKW/Braun/Mamu/Valanciunas

Ebuka Okorie is a sleeper pick we may regret not taking