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There weren’t many high expectations for the Toronto Raptors heading into the 2025-26 season. Sure, Brandon Ingram was going to improve the team, but many weren’t sold on just how much Ingram was going to change the team. But thus far, the addition of Ingram has been everything the Raptors have expected and more, as they are currently sitting pretty in third place in the Eastern Conference at the moment with a 16-11 record.

This Raptors team was facing pressure to make it work amid a bloated payroll and a poor past two seasons that aren’t befitting of a team that’s paying as much as they are for their roster. And for what it’s worth, Toronto has been a good, if not great, team that knows it has plenty of room to grow.

The Raptors have cooled off after a hot start; while they certainly have it in their sights to make noise in the wide-open East, it’s become rather evident that they may not have enough against the best teams in the association.

It’s not a surprise at all to see the Raptors be involved in trade rumors involving Anthony Davis, who could be on the outs in Dallas. The Dallas Mavericks will be reluctant to trade away the main piece they got in the Luka Doncic trade, but if they were to fully pivot towards a youth movement, trading Davis away for young pieces and draft picks could do them a world of good.

The Raptors have never been shy about trading for a superstar, and this risk-taking of theirs paid off back in 2019 in the form of an NBA championship. Could the same happen if they were to trade for the Mavericks star?

Raptors’ trade package for Anthony Davis

Raptors acquire: Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy

Mavericks acquire: Jakob Poeltl, Immanuel Quickley, Collin Murray-Boyles

Now, the Raptors roster that added Kawhi Leonard was a perennial contender in the East that only failed to break through due to LeBron James’ presence. This Toronto squad is not that caliber of team. They have the pieces to be a contender in the East, but they have not yet proven anything with this current core.

There is something to be said about continuity and giving their current core a shot to develop and learn what it takes to win. They are at least learning how to rack up regular season wins, but at this juncture, it seems far too early to trade away their key pieces to bring someone like Davis in.

This is not to say that Davis would not be a major addition for the Raptors that could establish them as a 50-win team that could make it deep into the playoffs. Davis and Scottie Barnes would combine to form one of the most defensively stout frontcourts in the entire league, and they have the wings to put up a top-five defense if they bring in the Mavericks star.

The Raptors have made it a point to get their buckets on the interior; they score 46 percent of their points in the paint (as per NBA.com), and Davis makes them an even more dangerous team on the interior moving forward.

Davis is an injury-risk, but when healthy, he has produced for the Mavericks. He’s currently averaging 20-11 on the year on nearly 52 percent shooting from the field to go along with over a steal and block per contest — making him perfect for the Raptors’ gritty, defense-first identity that has them ranked seventh in defensive rating thus far this season.

But the Raptors have to weigh the cost of bringing Davis in. The Mavericks star is not going to come cheap, especially when he was the centerpiece of the Luka Doncic trade that continues to haunt the franchise. And that cost may not be something the Raptors are willing to incur.

Any Davis trade for the Raptors will have to involve at least one of Ingram, Barnes, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, while Poeltl has to be added so that they could match the Mavericks star’s $54.1 million salary. Losing two core members of the group will hurt already hurt as it is, but the Mavs may not even find that trade package to be enough.

There is no way that the Raptors will be trading Ingram or Barnes, so Toronto will have to decide whether or not packaging one of Barrett or Quickley along with Poeltl would be worth it. Again, a package involving two of those three won’t be enough to convince the Mavericks to pull the trigger on a Davis trade, so Toronto would have to add even more pieces — with Collin Murray-Boyles perhaps going to Dallas as the final sweetener.

That may be where the Raptors draw the line. They clearly believe in Murray-Boyles and his potential as a switchable big with plenty of room to improve offensively. They took him with the ninth overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, and it would hurt them so much to give up someone who’s shown flashes of being a key contributor on a winning team.

Murray-Boyles is so raw offensively, but he’s shooting 48 percent from deep on limited attempts this season, suggesting that he could very well be a floor-spacer once he rounds out his game.

Raptors fans reading this may have ended up closing the article tab already after seeing the trade package that was put together. But at the end of the day, it has to be said that it’s a safe bet that the Raptors would choose not to pull off this trade. It just guts the team so much, and that is not something a winning team wants to do in the middle of the season.

Pursuing a Davis trade appears to be more of an offseason matter for the Raptors, especially if they flame out early in the playoffs. But this is the price Toronto has to expect from Dallas in any trade negotiations. The good news is that they won’t have to give up any first-round picks in the process anyway.

Related: Raptors rumors: Domantas Sabonis joins Anthony Davis as Raptors trade targets

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