The Toronto Raptors have been a mixed bag of an NBA franchise since capturing their first NBA title in franchise history during the 2018-19 NBA season. Subsequent to their NBA title season, the Raptors have three NBA playoff appearances to their name out of the seven NBA seasons following their ascent to NBA Champions in 2019.
In parallel, key faces and names have changed in the post-Championship era of the Toronto Raptors. Former head coach of the title-winning Raptors, Nick Nurse, is out. In is Darko Rajakovic, entering his fourth season as the Raptors' head coach for the 2026-27 NBA season.
Players like Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, and now two-time NBA Champion OG Anunoby are all gone and largely replaced by a varied collection of players in support of the face of the franchise, forward Scottie Barnes.
But just like a Hollywood movie studio, the Raptors during the summer of 2026 launched a major reboot, a trade that returned the primary Raptors NBA championship superhero, Kawhi Leonard, to the franchise as the trade return for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, and a collection of draft capital.
Given the Raptors’ roster combination of Leonard and Barnes, it’s fair to start perceiving the franchise as an early-season title contender candidate along with the defending NBA Champion New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, and San Antonio Spurs.
If title aspirations (wink wink) are on the Raptors’ mind for the 2026-27 NBA season, then would the Raptors also be interested in returning another familiar face to Toronto in the form of Bulls guard Norman Powell?
Bulls lead front office executive Bryson Graham should certainly explore the possibility of helping Powell achieve a Raptors homecoming en route to another title run in the 2027 NBA Playoffs.
Context for a Powell to Toronto deal
Upfront, given the history of Powell with the Raptors and Leonard’s return to the franchise, the motivation for exploring this premise should be to net the Bulls a draft capital return, perhaps fueled by irrational human behavior.
Think Mikal Bridges joining the rest of his Villanova Wildcats college teammates on the Knicks in exchange for five first-round picks, or the Orlando Magic sending the Memphis Grizzlies a draft pick bag to secure Desmond Bane.
Norman Powell, going into his age-33 NBA season, logically should not return any first-round picks to the Bulls. However, the relationship Powell presumably has within the Raptors between Leonard and franchise general manager Bobby Webster should create a trade negotiation space with an appetite for sending draft capital to the Bulls.
What might a hypothetical Bulls-Raptors trade look like?
A 2027 NBA trade deadline deal packaging Powell (eligible for trade after Dec 15, 2026) with center Nic Claxton in exchange for center Jakob Poeltl and wing R.J. Barrett, plus the Raptors 2031 first-round pick (unprotected, 2030 second-round pick (unprotected), and 2032 second-round pick (unprotected) would be a reasonable exchange of salary and value in this scenario.
On the Raptors side, they get veteran roster value now that lines up with Kawhi Leonard’s two-year extension with the Raptors in Powell and Claxton, while punting Jakob Poeltl’s three-year $84 million extension from their cap sheet entirely.
As for the Bulls, the supporting moves to maximize the value of this sort of trade would include immediately waiving R.J. Barrett and absorbing the prorated remainder of his $29.6 million expiring salary as dead money after completing the trade. Additionally, the Bulls should trade or waive Poeltl going into the final season of his $84 million contract, the 2029-30 NBA season, according to Spotrac.
Surely some Bulls fans would express consternation on the optics of Poeltl’s long-term salary, plus age as he’s entering his age 31 season when the 2026-27 NBA season tips off.
However, if the Bulls acquired Poeltl at the 2027 NBA trade deadline, they would pay Poeltl a cash impact equal to his $19.5 million 2026-27 regular-season salary, prorated for the remainder of the season. Additionally, only the first two seasons of Poeltl’s $84 million contract are fully guaranteed, and his third season only contains $5 million in guaranteed money.
So the value proposition in the Bulls acquiring Poeltl is to leverage paying the center $61.8 million guaranteed over two NBA seasons to acquire a collection of three unprotected future draft picks.
It may not be a windfall trade return, but asset accumulation has to start somewhere, and the Bulls have to be consistent in doing more trades in general that return picks to take the sticker shock off any one trade that returns bad salary and draft capital.
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