AUG. 1: Temple’s deal with the Raptors is official, per team release.
JULY 31: The Raptors are signing free agent wing Garrett Temple to a one-year deal worth $3.2MM, agent Mark Bartelstein tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Based on the terms of the agreement, Temple will be receiving the veteran’s minimum in 2023/24 for a player with 10+ years of experience. We’ll have to wait to see whether or not the contract is fully guaranteed.
Temple, 37, was waived earlier this month by the Pelicans before his $5.4MM salary became guaranteed. He reached unrestricted free agency a couple days later when he wasn’t claimed off the waiver wire.
Toronto will be Temple’s 12th team as he enters his 14th NBA season, having spent the past two seasons in a limited role with New Orleans. He holds career averages of 6.2 PPG, 2.3 RPG and 1.7 APG on .402/.345/.740 shooting across 716 regular season appearances (288 starts, 20.9 MPG).
Temple is known for being a good locker room presence, notes Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (via Twitter). The Raptors currently have 15 players signed to standard contracts (14 guaranteed), so Temple will fill the 16th roster spot and potentially the 15th on a guaranteed deal.
If his contract is guaranteed, the team would be about $1.9MM below the luxury tax line, Murphy adds. Toronto also has all three of its two-way slots filled, as shown by our tracker.
Hard work, long arms & a high bball iq really can take u far in this game. From a family of Red Stick legends, GTemp continues to carry the torch… link to m.youtube.com
I’m actually surprised he’s getting another opportunity
I think this is more of a locker room signing than an on-court signing. With 3 two way contracts to provide more depth, we may see more of these kind of signings
12th different team, go Temple go!
Break Ish Smith’s record!
Hey, 12 different teams means 12 teams saw value in him at some point.
Other than being a good locker room guy who plays decent D, i don’t understand how this helps the Raps. You have OPJ and Dennis, both known as good locker room guys, and Temple doesn’t solve the team’s biggest issue, a lack of 3PT shooting.
Masai is just flailing around trying to keep the team as competitive as possible (in his mind), remaining under the tax apron, while trying to put off every major decision (Future of Pascal, OG and Trent Jr.), just like last year.
Very mid offseason. They’re still trying to play stone age 2003 basketball with the lack of spacing and shooting.
Very mid, is such an overstatement
Temple has had a nice (if belated) NBA career. He was never on a real contract until he turned 30, and hasn’t been on a minimum deal since then until now. He’s provided stealth 3&D value for awhile. I don’t know if he has anything left (but his release by the NOP was mostly about a NGC above minimum). Him finding work isn’t a shock.
Good for him. Glad to see a veteran other than Silver’s favorites gets signed. Staged like WWE.
I can’t see this contract being guaranteed. The Raptors recently signed Dowtin to a non-guaranteed deal this month, to challenge for the fifteenth roster spot. Dowtin profiled fairly well as a backup PG last season and despite his need to develop further, this team needs depth pretty badly and I don’t see Temple filling that role.
Could be someone else may be heading out such as Porter or Young, but I can’t see the team keeping Temple over Dowtin.
I was thinking Terrance Ross as a veteran glue guy who can actually shoot (and a former Raptor), but Temple is a good guy for your chemistry. Guessing Masai is trying to smooth any ruffled feathers over trade talk.