Why the Raptors’ recently acquired Bruce Brown could be on the move, again

NEW YORK — A message to Toronto-area real estate agents regarding newest Raptor Bruce Brown: Stand down. No need to get your hustle on just yet.

“I’m not signing any leases,” Brown said over the weekend as he made his first road trip with his new team to play his second game as a Raptor, while touching down in his fifth city in the space of a week.

Brown was acquired by Toronto in the trade that sent Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday. The six-year veteran signed with Indiana in the off-season after helping the Denver Nuggets to the NBA title a year ago. But it was a short-lived stint, which is the lot of a player who is good enough to be in demand by teams with big dreams (in addition to his role helping Denver to the title, Brown has been in the playoffs four other seasons) but has mostly existed on short-term contracts since being taken 42nd overall out of the University of Miami in 2018.

It’s expected that Brown will be targeted by a number of high-end teams looking to augment their depth for the playoffs, making for a real possibility that Brown could be on the move again sooner than later.

Nice to be wanted, yes?

“Yeah, that’s a good part of it,” the personable guard said about hearing his name in trade rumours. “But I’m thinking, ‘Damn I gotta move again.’”

How to manage in the meantime? “Stay off social media,” he says.

What it’s been lately has been intense. In the past eight days Brown has made his return to Denver and received his championship ring in a ceremony last Sunday, learned he was being traded while walking into practice in Sacramento with the Pacers on Wednesday, and has flown back to Indianapolis to gather some belongings before jetting to Toronto Thursday where he passed his mandatory physical to finalize the trade and scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in a strong performance against the Chicago Bulls that night. On Friday, he was on a plane with his new team to New York for the Raptors’ game against the Knicks on Saturday.

On Sunday, Brown rested. But for how long, is the question.

The Raptors are back in action Monday night when they host the Memphis Grizzles before a three-day respite that falls between their current stretch of 15 games in 11 cities over 24 nights and another six-game, 10-day road trip that will take them up to the Feb. 8 trade deadline.

But Brown is under no illusions about whether or not he has a long-term home in Toronto. He’s certainly open to it — “Toronto’s a great city” — but having played for five teams in six years and four in the space of 30 months, he’s not putting down roots just yet.

“I’m leaving that to (president) Masai (Ujiri), whatever Masai wants to do,” Brown said in an interview in the tunnels of Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Knicks. New York is a team Brown has been linked with almost routinely because of the organization’s ties to his agency, CAA, and the close relationship between Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau and Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone. The Knicks were interested in signing Brown last summer but got outbid. Team sources confirm that they’re still looking to make moves before the trade deadline, and Brown is on their radar.

Brown is resigned about the whole thing. “I’m not requesting anything [in terms of a trade],” he said. “I know that’s been out there, but that’s up to (Ujiri) and whatever he wants to do.”