Deal also includes a first-round pick going to San Antonio, and Drew Eubanks coming back to Toronto.
The Goran Dragic era in Toronto is, mercifully, over.
Although not officially confirmed by the NBA yet, multiple reports have the Toronto Raptors trading the veteran guard — who appeared in all of five games for the Raptors this year — to the San Antonio Spurs for Thaddeus Young and Drew Eubanks. Toronto also sends a first-round pick to San Antonio in exchange for a 2022 second round pick via Detroit; Toronto’s pick is protected 1-14 this year, 1-13 next year, and converts to two seconds after that.
Sources: Full Spurs-Raptors deal:
Raptors: Thad Young, Drew Eubanks, 2022 Pistons second-rounder
Spurs: Goran Dragic, Toronto 2022 first-rounder (protected 1-14, protected 1-13 in 2023, turning into future seconds)
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 10, 2022
Dragic was acquired by the Raptors last summer (along with Precious Achiuwa) as part of the sign-and-trade deal that sent Kyle Lowry to the Miami Heat. Dragic was grumpy about the deal on TV in his native Slovenia, but came to camp and said all the right things… then, after barely playing, asked if he could leave the team and work out on his own back home.
At that point, a trade or buyout was inevitable; all that remained was whether or not the Raptors could extract any value out of Dragic’s contract.
Thad Young, while a solid player, perhaps tells us there wasn’t much value to be had at all.
Young hasn’t had much of an impact on his new team, either. After coming to the Spurs as part of the DeMar DeRozan sign-and-trade with the Chicago Bulls, he’s only appeared in 26 games, averaging just 6 points, 3 boards and 2 assists. But Young’s career averages of 13/6/2 are solid enough, and his 50% from the field/33% from downtown is all right too.
At 6’8” with solid playmaking skills, Young should fit well on this Raptors roster — after all, pretty much everyone else on the team can be described the same way.
Eubanks is also about the same size, shockingly. In his fourth year, he’s averaging 5/4/1 in 12 minutes a night; he’s more of a project or a piece to be moved later on.
Dragic is expected to be bought out by the Spurs, and he’ll then likely sign with the Dallas Mavericks, his alleged preferred destination all along.