The Raptors will add a nine-year veteran former all-star who has averaged more than 20 points a game in each of the last six seasons, and is a 36-per-cent three-point shooter with a 56-per-cent true shooting percentage.
The fact that they did it nearly four months ago — rather than when the NBA’s free agency period fully opens on Monday at 6 p.m. — just means they were early shoppers.
By adding Brandon Ingram in a February trade with the New Orleans Pelicans and then locking him up with a three-year, $120-million (U.S.) deal as he faced unrestricted free agency, the Raptors made an early foray that takes them pretty much out of the mix now.
They will tinker on the periphery — Garrett Temple is committed to returning for another season — and there’s always a chance that some “too good to pass up†trade offer will come their way, but right now they’re expected to sit out free agency.
The Raptors don’t have a ton of money (their salary commitments are above the NBA tax level, but below the first apron that would cut slightly into the moves they can make) and they’re just about out of roster spots.
With Temple back on a one-year deal that will pay him about $3.6 million (U.S.), ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ has 12 players on fully guaranteed contracts (including Wednesday’s No. 9 draft pick Collin Murray-Boyles) and has to decide what to do with second-round pick Alijah Martin.
They have non-guaranteed contracts in place with Jamison Battle, A.J. Lawson and Colin Castleton, plus two-way deals with Ulrich Chomche, Jared Rhoden and Chucky Hepburn, an undrafted guard signed after the draft ended Thursday night.
The dozen guarantees: Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl, Jamal Shead, Ochai Agbaji, Gradey Dick, Jonathan Mogbo, Ja’Kobe Walter, Ingram, Murray-Boyles and Temple.
That’s 19 players under consideration already. Teams can have 15 full roster spots and three players on two-way deals.
There is one need remaining: The Raptors have not yet settled on a backup to Poeltl at centre. But it’s not a huge issue right now, and the front office could very well wait until after next month’s Summer League season to see which low-salary players look enticing.
Of course, the chance of a major trade disrupting the status quo exists, but NBA sources said Sunday that nothing seems imminent.
What it also means is that the Raptors are almost certain to cut ties with Chris Boucher, the team’s longest serving player and the only holdover from the 2019 NBA championship team.
The 32-year-old Saint Lucia-born Montrealer, who joined the Raptors before the 2018-19 season, is an unrestricted free agent and there’s not much interest in bringing him back.
The big splash was getting the 27-year-old Ingram from New Orleans for Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown, and then signing him. And since he has yet to appear in a game for the Raptors as he recovered from an ankle injury, seeing him as the equivalent of a big off-season acquisition isn’t a reach.
The front office certainly saw it that way. The move was made with next season in mind and gave them months to work him into the system.
Whether he fits is still unknown. It’ll be up to coach Darko Rajakovic to work him in, but that’s a coaching issue, not a rotation-building issue.
The decision to bring back Temple was a no-brainer. The 39-year-old who will be entering his 16th NBA season has shown that not only can he play when called upon, but that his leadership in the locker room has been invaluable in two seasons as a Raptor. And it resonates far more as a player than if he’d become an assistant coach because the dynamic is just different.
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