“The Raptors have until June 29 (two days after the draft) to exercise an option on the $23 million (U.S.) he’s owed next season — a valuable expiring contract to put on the market.

“The sense from a handful of league sources is that the Raptors are likely to pick up the option, then turn around and deal Brown quickly rather than wait until the 2025 trade deadline,” Smith wrote in a May 17 story.

The Pacers signed Brown to a two-year, $45 million contract after Brown helped the Nuggets win a title. Brown played 33 games before the Pacers traded him to the Raptors for Pascal Siakam. He then played 34 games for Toronto. Because the Raptors more or less tore down their roster, they did not make the playoffs and must decide how they will handle Brown’s future.

Bruce Brown’s Current Value Around the NBA

In Smith’s report, he summarized how Brown fared with the Raptors. In short, his performance for them was not great.

“Now, Brown’s time with the Raptors — he arrived in the Pascal Siakam deal with the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 17 — has hardly been earth-shattering. He said after the season that a knee was troubling him. But health problems or not, he did not have any discernible impact.”

Despite Brown’s problems with the Raptors, Smith revealed that Brown’s history with the Nuggets makes him a trade asset.

“Chatter around this week’s draft combine, though, is that Brown is still seen as valuable — a serviceable rotation player on a good team like he was in Denver in 2022-23 — and could bring a useful piece in return.”

Brown was a valuable rotation piece for the Nuggets, which helped them win their first title in 2023. In 20 games, Brown averaged 12 points a game while shooting 51.1% from the field and 31.6% from three. This included a 21-point performance against the Miami Heat that helped the Nuggets take a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.

The $45 million the Pacers gave him in 2023 was a sizable pay raise. Brown never got to see his role through, but he could on his next team.

Analyst Believes Bruce Brown Trade Would Be Hard

Following Smith’s report, Sports Illustrated’s Aaron Rose explained why he thinks a Brown trade would be hard on Toronto’s part to pull off.

“Toronto has to guarantee Brown’s salary for next season and therefore any team acquiring Brown that doesn’t have cap space or a trade exception big enough to absorb Brown’s contract must find matching salary to send the Raptors.”

If the Raptors pick Brown’s option for the 2024-25 season, they will owe him $23 million. Denver re-acquiring him is likely out of the question since they don’t have expendable players on salaries big enough to bring him back.

However, if Brown has another underwhelming season, that could decrease his value enough that the Nuggets could sign him to a cheap deal.