>Once it was clear Vezenkov was willing to walk away entirely, the Raptors likely had one final step of canvassing the league to see if anyone wanted the contract to buy it out themselves. The Grizzlies, for example, may have been interested in trading Ziaire Williams for Vezenkov, instead of the deal made with Brooklyn for Mamadi Diakite, as they could have then bought Vezenkov out for $0 and cleared out similar breathing room under the tax.
On JFL being off the roster:
>The second, and probably more relevant factor is that the Raptors have a lot of backcourt pieces vying for NBA minutes now, as well as a handful of backcourt developmental pieces. Freeman-Liberty’s path to a role would have to go through Davion Mitchell, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Jamaal Shead now, while D.J. Carton is also around on a two-way deal. Freeman-Liberty became harder to slot in, on paper, as an undersized slash-and-transition two-guard who’d shown moderate, but not enormous, gains in his point guard play.
>The Raptors do not hold his G League rights, so while a Raptors 905 reunion is not impossible, they’d have to acquire those rights and wait for Freeman-Liberty to go unsigned or be waived from wherever he lands. That seems fairly unlikely.
On the roster/salary cap space:
>One, the Raptors now have multiple roster spots open. They currently have 14 players under guaranteed NBA contracts, three two-way players, and one Exhibit 10 (Jamison Battle; basically a camp/905 contract) player, plus a second Exhibit 10 player (Quincy Guerrier) reported but not official. Teams can have up to 21 players under contract in total during the off-season, so even with Guerrier, the Raptors have two open spots, including one open spot for their opening-day roster.
>Two, the Raptors now have about $11.3 million in wiggle room underneath the luxury tax, before factoring in unlikely incentives (explained in last week’s piece).
On potential additions:
>The free agent bin is not exactly enthralling at this point in the summer, but Tyus Jones can help any team and would hold value as a trade chip once eligible, for example.
>A more modest option would be to spend a little bit of the mid-level, maintaining some flexibility under the tax. The Raptors could target a pool of players who aren’t as good as Jones but may better fill a roster need, like Lonnie Walker IV, Doug McDermott, Talen Horton-Tucker, JT Thor, Precious Achiuwa, Cedi Osman, or any number of older vets. This would allow the Raptors to fill out the roster, add some bench talent, and in many cases, add a possible deadline trade chip if the fit isn’t there or the team isn’t that good.
On the options waiving Vezenkov brings:
>They might just choose that last route and keep things flexible. Having $11.3 million in wiggle room for trades is valuable, even if it doesn’t move the needle a ton for fans. We just saw with the Kings trade how valuable even a few million in space to rent out can be, and the Raptors remain in asset-acquisition mode.
>Keeping that space to take on extra salary in a Bruce Brown trade, a Chris Boucher trade, or a straight salary-dump trade could bring back another valuable pick later. That’s especially true under this new CBA, where a team can use their mid-level exception as a trade exception, too – the Raptors could just eat $11.3 million in salary from a team trying to lessen their tax bill and pick up assets for it.
mMounirM
I like Tyus Jones. Not sure if he would be enticed to play a backup role here though. Maybe we convince him to be our 6th man who gets 25-30 minutes a night? a 4 year deal where the 4th year is a player option?
dae5oty
We need some front-court depth for sure. There is basically nobody you can rely on at the 4 behind Scottie right now.
SpezNc
Optionality is back !
bloatedswordfish89
Sad to see JFL get waived but I get it
Raptorsthrowaway1
We need some size for depth. Not really anyone out there that makes sense. Okoro maybe? Cleveland matches for sure
k_jones
My bet would be on the raps helping a team duck or reduce their tax bill in exchange for a pick. Pair it with Brown (a win now rental piece) and the asset could be of real significant value.
7 Comments
Tidbits:
On Vezenkov’s situation being resolved:
>Once it was clear Vezenkov was willing to walk away entirely, the Raptors likely had one final step of canvassing the league to see if anyone wanted the contract to buy it out themselves. The Grizzlies, for example, may have been interested in trading Ziaire Williams for Vezenkov, instead of the deal made with Brooklyn for Mamadi Diakite, as they could have then bought Vezenkov out for $0 and cleared out similar breathing room under the tax.
On JFL being off the roster:
>The second, and probably more relevant factor is that the Raptors have a lot of backcourt pieces vying for NBA minutes now, as well as a handful of backcourt developmental pieces. Freeman-Liberty’s path to a role would have to go through Davion Mitchell, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Jamaal Shead now, while D.J. Carton is also around on a two-way deal. Freeman-Liberty became harder to slot in, on paper, as an undersized slash-and-transition two-guard who’d shown moderate, but not enormous, gains in his point guard play.
>The Raptors do not hold his G League rights, so while a Raptors 905 reunion is not impossible, they’d have to acquire those rights and wait for Freeman-Liberty to go unsigned or be waived from wherever he lands. That seems fairly unlikely.
On the roster/salary cap space:
>One, the Raptors now have multiple roster spots open. They currently have 14 players under guaranteed NBA contracts, three two-way players, and one Exhibit 10 (Jamison Battle; basically a camp/905 contract) player, plus a second Exhibit 10 player (Quincy Guerrier) reported but not official. Teams can have up to 21 players under contract in total during the off-season, so even with Guerrier, the Raptors have two open spots, including one open spot for their opening-day roster.
>Two, the Raptors now have about $11.3 million in wiggle room underneath the luxury tax, before factoring in unlikely incentives (explained in last week’s piece).
On potential additions:
>The free agent bin is not exactly enthralling at this point in the summer, but Tyus Jones can help any team and would hold value as a trade chip once eligible, for example.
>A more modest option would be to spend a little bit of the mid-level, maintaining some flexibility under the tax. The Raptors could target a pool of players who aren’t as good as Jones but may better fill a roster need, like Lonnie Walker IV, Doug McDermott, Talen Horton-Tucker, JT Thor, Precious Achiuwa, Cedi Osman, or any number of older vets. This would allow the Raptors to fill out the roster, add some bench talent, and in many cases, add a possible deadline trade chip if the fit isn’t there or the team isn’t that good.
On the options waiving Vezenkov brings:
>They might just choose that last route and keep things flexible. Having $11.3 million in wiggle room for trades is valuable, even if it doesn’t move the needle a ton for fans. We just saw with the Kings trade how valuable even a few million in space to rent out can be, and the Raptors remain in asset-acquisition mode.
>Keeping that space to take on extra salary in a Bruce Brown trade, a Chris Boucher trade, or a straight salary-dump trade could bring back another valuable pick later. That’s especially true under this new CBA, where a team can use their mid-level exception as a trade exception, too – the Raptors could just eat $11.3 million in salary from a team trying to lessen their tax bill and pick up assets for it.
I like Tyus Jones. Not sure if he would be enticed to play a backup role here though. Maybe we convince him to be our 6th man who gets 25-30 minutes a night? a 4 year deal where the 4th year is a player option?
We need some front-court depth for sure. There is basically nobody you can rely on at the 4 behind Scottie right now.
Optionality is back !
Sad to see JFL get waived but I get it
We need some size for depth. Not really anyone out there that makes sense. Okoro maybe? Cleveland matches for sure
My bet would be on the raps helping a team duck or reduce their tax bill in exchange for a pick. Pair it with Brown (a win now rental piece) and the asset could be of real significant value.
Well played Masai.