It goes against my grain to think about Toronto Raptors players as trade assets. However, there’s little sense in allowing warm and fuzzy feelings to creep into one’s consideration. The goal of the franchise is an NBA championship.
Thus we need to mull over the value of Jonas Valanciunas as a trade chip. He has this season and next to run on a reasonable contract averaging $16 million, before a final year on a player option. Even in this era of inflated NBA salaries, $16 M can return a lot of value.
JV is ranked as the #80 player in the league according to Sports Illustrated’s annual list, which is respectable.