Report: Thunder wanted Raptors trio, No. 9 pick for Ibaka
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Toronto Raptors held trade discussions involving power forward Serge Ibaka.
Sportsnet's Michael Grange reports that the Thunder wanted Cory Joseph, Patrick Patterson, Norman Powell, and the No. 9 selection in the 2016 NBA Draft in exchange for the Congo-born rim protector.
Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri balked at the astronomical asking price. The deal would have robbed the Raptors of two key bench contributors on reasonable cost-controlled deals, and mortgaged future assets in exchange for one year of Ibaka before he hits free agency.
Granted, had they made the trade, the Raptors could have retained Ibaka's Bird rights and gone over the cap to re-sign him next summer. But with yet another significant cap spike slated to rock the league, the price to re-sign Ibaka could be enormous.
Ibaka was eventually dealt to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova, and the No. 11 pick that turned into Domantas Sabonis.