The Toronto Raptors weren’t expected to have a busy offseason this summer.
Toronto’s roster appears to be set. They took care of their most important moves, locking up Scottie Barnes to a five-year contract extension that could be worth up to $270 million and Immanuel Quickley to a five-year, $175 million deal.
Toronto also elected to pick up Bruce Brown’s $23 million team option and recently brought back veteran Garrett Temple to a one-year deal.
This has given the Raptors 15 players on guaranteed deals for next year. This is how things look for Toronto:
PG: Immanuel Quickley, Davion Mitchell, Jamal Shead, DJ Carton (two-way), Javon Freeman-Liberty (non-guaranteed)
SG: Gradey Dick, Bruce Brown Jr., JaKobe Walter
SF: RJ Barrett, Ochai Agbaji, Garrett Temple
PF: Scottie Barnes, Sasha Vezenkov, Chris Boucher, Joanthan Mogbo
C: Jakob Poeltl, Kelly Olynyk, Braden Carlson (two-way), Ulrich Chomche (two-way)
As things stand, it does seem like the Raptors are ready to part ways with Gary Trent Jr. According to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange, there is ‘real doubt’ that Trent Jr. will even be offered a deal for the mid-level exception. Therefore, it appears Toronto wouldn’t even have to offer Trent Jr. the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception to re-sign him. However, even if Trent Jr. is willing to take a pay cut, it still seems like Toronto is ready to move on from him.
If the Raptors do want Trent Jr. back then they would need to open a roster spot. They would either have to waive a player on a guaranteed contract or make a trade before the start of the season.
The only imminent move for the Raptors if there is one is a potential Bruce Brown trade. The Raptors have tried to trade Brown since January. The market seems to have cooled off for him. The Raptors could wait until the trade deadline to trade Brown who’s on an expiring contract.
Another possible trade candidate for the Raptors is Chris Boucher. He no longer fits the team’s timeline and he’s on a $10.8 million expiring contract. However, it’s hard to see the Raptors getting much back for him.
Moving forward
The Raptors can have up to 21 players in training camp this summer.
The Raptors currently sit at 20 with Quincy Guerrier on an Exhibit 10 deal and Freeman-Liberty still on the books. That leaves one open roster spot for the Raptors to fill this summer.
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