AUGUST 7: The signing is official, the Raptors announced (via Twitter).
AUGUST 5: The Raptors have agreed to a two-year deal with free agent swingman Ishmail Wainright, agents Deirunas Visockas and Jim Tanner tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
While the exact terms of the deal aren’t known, Blake Murphy of The Athletic says (via Twitter) it’ll include a partial guarantee, giving Wainright the opportunity to compete for a regular season roster spot. It seems likely to be worth the minimum.
Wainright, 26, went outdrafted out of Baylor in 2017 and has bounced around a handful of international leagues since then. In 2020/21, he played for Strasbourg in France, registering 11.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 1.8 SPG on .485/.320/.726 shooting in 36 games (28.1 MPG). He’s considered a versatile defender on the wing, notes Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
A report in June stated that Wainright was eyeing a move to the NBA for 2021/22 and identified Toronto as the frontrunner to land him. Murphy reported on Wednesday (via Twitter) that Wainright would be on the Raptors’ Summer League roster in Las Vegas.
He was TRASH in college. How did he get so much brtteyr overseas? Man only averaged 3 and 3 last season!
It sounds like he and Sam Dekker, if they can shoot it the way they did could give them what they need on the wing. Dekker has always been inconsistent from 3. His name sounds familiar. Not sure if he played summer league a few years ago, but I’ll be curious to see how he looks.
I’m also really interested to see them this year, and hope they dont stupidly move Siakam. They could potentially have an incredibly versatile roster
Do you EVER get rid of Freddy V if your Toronto?
The time for that would have probably been when he was a FA, especially drafting a similar guard with Malachi Flynn, and Terrence Davis coming off a really strong rookie season, and still having Lowry, and having a need for bigs, as well as shooting, but now that Lowry is gone, and they have all these defenders at other spots, they need shooting even more