1:00pm: The Raptors have officially waived Mykhailiuk, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
11:06am: The Raptors are waiving Svi Mykhailiuk, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who says the veteran shooting guard will seek a “fresh start” with a new club.
Currently suiting up for Ukraine’s national team, Mykhailiuk spent the 2021/22 season with the Raptors after signing a two-year, minimum-salary deal with the team last almost exactly one year ago.
The 25-year-old, who previously spent time with the Lakers, Pistons, and Thunder, played a modest role in Toronto, averaging 4.6 PPG and 1.6 RPG on .389/.306/.865 shooting in 56 regular season appearances (12.8 MPG).
Following his down year, Mykhailiuk exercised his player option for 2022/23, but his spot on the Raptors’ roster for the coming season always appeared tenuous. Toronto has a number of viable candidates for back-end spots on its 15-man regular season squad and has enough breathing room below the luxury tax line to eat Mykhailiuk’s $1,878,720 guaranteed salary and carry another player without becoming a taxpayer.
Once Mykhailiuk is officially waived, the Raptors will have 13 players on guaranteed contracts, with Dalano Banton, D.J. Wilson, and Justin Champagnie also vying for roster spots on partially guaranteed deals.
Additionally, Toronto still has two-way qualifying offers out to David Johnson and Jalen Harris, despite having filled its two-way slots with Jeff Dowtin and Ron Harper Jr. — it remains possible that Johnson and/or Harris will factor into the 15-man roster competition. Gabe Brown is also in the picture, but he’s on an Exhibit 10 contract and would probably need to have a huge preseason to earn real consideration for a regular season roster spot.
If the Raptors officially cut Mykhailiuk this afternoon, he’ll clear waivers and become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday, assuming he goes unclaimed.
He’ll be a good pick up for Olympiakos.
Only question is what took em so long. Svi was never a nba level guy. Malik Newman shoulda had his spot in the league
He’s just as good as Watanabe, who just signed.
Devi, it’s like we hardly knew you.
Good fit for the lakers .. they need shooting and bench players
I remember prior to his rookie season with the Lakers, this guy scored 30 points in some exhibition game with the Ukrainian national team and Lakers fans went bonkers like how a big steal he was for them, like he was some kind of European Kobe or something. Turns out, he was not.