Raptors acquire, expected to trade or waive Chris Paul in deal with Clippers, Nets

The  Clippers, Raptors and Nets have agreed to a three-team deal that sends Chris Paul from Los Angeles to Toronto, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

It’s a trade that looks more about math than basketball, at least for now.

Toronto will send Ochai Agbaji to Brooklyn, along with a 2032 second-round pick. The Clippers, meanwhile, will receive the draft rights to Vanja Marinkovic from the Nets, per Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, and will also send $3.5 million in cash to Brooklyn, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes.

Paul is unlikely to be long for Toronto. The Raptors do not plan to have the veteran point guard report to the team, per Charania, and there is a belief around the league that he could be rerouted again before Thursday’s deadline.

If that doesn’t materialize, a waiver is the expected outcome.

For the Clippers and Raptors, this is largely about flexibility. Los Angeles opens a roster spot and creates additional breathing room below the hard cap, space that could be used to convert two-way players Jordan Miller and Kobe Sanders to standard contracts.

Toronto ducks below the tax line by moving Agbaji’s $6.4 million expiring deal for Paul’s $2.3 million cap hit, while also generating a $6.4 million trade exception. Quiet moves, but ones that tend to matter when the deadline clock really starts to squeeze.