The Raptors have officially signed No. 57 overall pick Ulrich Chomche to a two-way contract, per the NBA’s transaction log.
According to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet (Twitter link), Chomche’s deal will cover two years instead of just one, putting him on track to reach restricted free agency in 2026. Chomche was the youngest player in this year’s draft class (he won’t turn 19 until December 30), so his camp and the Raptors agreed to approach his development with a longer-term view, Murphy explains.
Chomche, who was born in Cameroon, was part of the NBA Academy Africa before playing in the Basketball Africa League in 2022 and 2023. The 6’11” center became the first player in league history to be selected in an NBA draft after playing in the BAL.
The Raptors reportedly sent the Timberwolves $1MM in cash to acquire the No. 57 pick in last month’s draft in order to nab Chomche. That deal ended up being expanded to include four teams.
Toronto has now filled all three of its two-way slots, with Chomche joining D.J. Carton and Branden Carlson. The club also has 15 players on guaranteed standard contracts. It’s unclear if the Raptors plan on making any more roster changes in the coming days, weeks, or months, or if this is essentially the group they’ll take into training camp (with camp invitees to fill out the 21-man squad).
This has got to be a 1st, a 2 year 2-way contract. I wonder what the QO is like for FA. Toronto is probably a good place for him. It will give him time to develop.
2 year two way contracts are actually very common
1st I heard of a two year deal. I just assumed they were 1 year deals because of the developmental nature of these contracts. How does the QO work? What do they base it on?
If a player is coming off two seasons on a two-way contract with the same team (either a two-year contract or consecutive one-year deals), his QO is equivalent to his minimum salary, but it only includes a small partial guarantee (less than $100K).
The Jazz have this offer out to Johnny Juzang at the moment.
Thanks. You learn something new every day.
1 year two way deals are definitely the norm and more common, but there are quite a few 2 year ones that get signed every offseason.
Could he be the next Giannis (light) ?
The comps I’ve read are to Serge Ibaka.
@Giants. For a 2nd round pick, developing into an Ibaka would be great.
If he had only been drafted by the lakers , he would gotta four year guaranteed deal