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Paying the wrong player is the least of the Raptors' worries this summer—mostly because all of their money is already spent for them.

Serge Ibaka, Kyle Lowry, Patrick Patterson and P.J. Tucker are each slated for free agency. Toronto can't go wrong paying any of them, and yet it cannot afford to keep all of them.

"It will be hard for Toronto to duck the tax if it retains Lowry and Serge Ibaka, even if its other two core free agents—P.J. Tucker and plus-minus god Patrick Patterson—walk away," ESPN.com's Zach Lowe wrote. "Salary-dumping DeMarre Carroll was always the Raptors' get-out-of-the-tax card, but Carroll's decline has been so severe they would likely have to attach a first-round pick as a sweetener. Trading Jonas Valanciunas loomed as the alternate cost-cutting measure, but no one needs a center. The most likely Valanciunas deals would return someone else's unwanted big fella."

Patterson is more likely collateral damage than anyone. General manager Masai Ujiri can't spin losing Ibaka or Lowry for squat, and Tucker will be the least expensive of the four. As a proven three-point shooter who can make plays off the bounce and switch everything on defense, Patterson should fall closer to Ibaka than Tucker on the salary scale.

Replacing him with names plucked straight from the clearance rack is impossible. Marreese Speights is cut from a similar cloth...sort of. He has outside range and can create his own shots. But he's not the passer, pick-and-roll defender or emergency rim protector Patterson is on his best nights.

Again: It's hard for the Raptors to whiff when combing through leftovers. But they should commit to slotting Carroll and Norman Powell at power forward more often, or just bite the bullet and re-sign Patterson, if they find themselves on Speights' bandwagon.