Report: Raptors must include another asset to trade Bargnani

In a lot of cities, the drafting of, then giving a large contract extension to, Andrea Bargnani would get a GM fired.

In Toronto it appears Bryan Colangelo remains safe in his job. Of course, part of that job now is trying to trade Bargnani — a three-point shooting big man who can do little else well. The problem is Bargnani is owned $22.2 million over two more seasons, so teams aren’t really interested in a trade.

The Raptors are going to have to sweeten the deal, reports Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun (in a post shredding Colangelo).

By convincing himself that Bargnani would one day repay his faith in him, Colangelo failed the franchise he has been paid handsomely to direct. Instead of dealing him when he had solid value, Colangelo hung on to the Roman and now, according to league sources, an asset would likely have to be included just to dump the $22.5 million US remaining on his contract.

What assets would the Raptors surrender other teams want? They are not trading Jonas Valanciunas. After that there Landry Fields is overpaid at two years, $12.5 million left, and I’m not sure how many teams want DeMar DeRozan at four years, $38 million left on his deal. Terrence Ross is nice but a throw in at this point. Maybe Amir Johnson, but again how much can you get for that.

The bottom line for Toronto is this: I see a collection of players without a plan. What kind of team do they want to be? Until they answer that even trading Bargnani away is simply moving deck chairs around.