SATURDAY, 9:20pm: Lucas has received a two-year, $3.0MM offer from the Raptors, with the second year of the contract being a team option, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.
WEDNESDAY, 4:46pm: The Raptors are "in serious talks" with John Lucas III, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. According to Stein, Toronto is close to a deal to sign Lucas away from the Bulls, with Chicago resigned to losing the 5'11" guard.
The Raptors have been considering signing a third point guard to play behind Kyle Lowry and Jose Calderon, and perhaps become Lowry's primary backup if Calderon is traded. While Lucas is hardly a big name, he had a quietly effective season for the Bulls in 2011/12, as we noted earlier today in our list of top remaining free agents by PER. The 29-year-old's 16.3 PER puts him second among available point guards. Lucas also averaged 7.5 points and 2.2 assists in 14.8 minutes per game, all career highs.
Calderone is as good as gone. Sign John Lucas 111 real quick-if at all possible.