The Toronto Raptors have traded forward DeMarre Carroll, a 2018 first- and second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets, in a move that saves ownership from a hefty luxury tax bill, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. In return, the Raptors receive forward Justin Hamilton.
Raptors trade DeMarre Carroll to Nets to clear cap space
Toronto saves the remaining $30 million owed to Carroll over the next 2 years.
Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
Carroll averaged nine points per game on forgettable shooting percentages for the Raptors, who battled through a grueling first-round playoff series against the Bucks before getting swept out of the second round by the Cavaliers. He was scheduled to make $14.8 million this season and $15.4 million in the 2018-19 season.
The trade allows the Raptors to fit Kyle Lowry’s three-year, $100 million contract into the payroll without saddling themselves in luxury tax. But it creates a gaping hole at the small forward spot, a position exposed last season as LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo ran amok against the Toronto defense.
The Raptors also lost physical defender P.J. Tucker to the Houston Rockets via free agency. Promising, young reserve Norman Powell figures to move into the starting rotation.
For Carroll, the trade is a reunion with head coach Kenny Atkinson, who he played under during his tenure with the Atlanta Hawks. Carroll is a scrappy two-way forward who has developed into a serviceable three-point shooter midway through his career. With two more years left on his contract, the 30-year-old “junkyard dog” joins a Nets team that jumpstarted its rebuild and youth movement by trading for D’Angelo Russell ahead of the NBA Draft.
Carroll averaged a career-best 12.6 points on 39.5 percent shooting from downtown with the Hawks in the 2014-15 season. He unfortunately suffered a right knee contusion that required surgery the following season, an injury he has struggled to rebound from.
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