By The Canadian Press

Toronto Raptors avoid luxury tax, add depth at centre at NBA trade deadline

Feb 5, 2026 | 5:37 PM

TORONTO — Toronto Raptors general manager Bobby Webster had a short to-do list ahead of the NBA’s trade deadline: avoid the luxury tax and add some depth at centre.

He feels he checked both those boxes by Thursday night.

“We needed to get under the tax. We were looking for some frontcourt help,” said Webster after the Raptors’ two trades were approved by the league. “There were some bigger deals that I think at this point, for this group, we didn’t want to chase.

“You didn’t want to get in a situation where you felt like you were, not necessarily overpaying, but we’re still on the uphill climb, I think.”

Toronto completed a three-team deal with the Los Angeles Clippers and Brooklyn Nets to acquire guard Chris Paul.

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Brooklyn got guard Ochai Agbaji and a 2032 second round pick from the Raptors and cash considerations from the Clippers in return. Los Angeles received the draft rights to guard Vanja Marinkovic from the Nets to complete the deal.

Webster said that he spoke with Paul’s agent and that the veteran player — who already announced that this will be his last season in the NBA — will be waived when the time is right. Once that happens, Toronto will be out from under the luxury tax.

The Raptors also got centre Trayce Jackson-Davis from the Golden State Warriors in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick.

Adding depth to the frontcourt was a priority with starting centre Jakob Poeltl missing most of this season with lower back issues, leaving Toronto relatively undersized.

“We’ve always been confident that Jak was going to be available,” Webster told reporters. “No one in here is seven-foot with a sore back, so it’s tough to put yourself in his shoes.

“Things can change as he ramps up again here, but we’re confident that he’ll be a good addition (when healthy).”

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic said earlier Thursday that Poeltl is ramping up his workouts and has been engaging in full contact drills.

Although Toronto has struggled with its three-point shooting for most of the season, Webster said he didn’t want to overextend himself by giving up too much for an upper-tier player while the Raptors are still in the midst of a rebuild.

“I don’t think we’re at a point where we can be too specific about skill sets,” said Webster, shortly after Toronto beat the Chicago Bulls 123-107. “We’re still trying to get really good players and add them to the group.

“I think we set ourselves up by not trading a ton of picks and having young players on different contracts so we could be in the mix for most of these.”

Jackson-Davis averaged 4.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game for Golden State. The six-foot-nine centre has averaged 6.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.8 blocks per game over his three-year career, all with the Warriors.

“All the information that I have about him is very, very positive, smart player, high basketball IQ, he can be a lob threat, good rebounder,” said Rajakovic. “There is a lot of good things that I heard about his game.

“One very, very positive thing is two of us, we share the same birthday, so that’s very positive. That’s a great start there.”

Rajakovic said he would start watching film on Jackson-Davis on Friday. The Raptors (31-22) did not have practice scheduled for Friday but likely would on Saturday.

Toronto moved up to fifth in the Eastern Conference standings with the win over Chicago and will host the Indiana Pacers (13-38) on Sunday afternoon.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2026.

John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press