NBA 2024 Offseason Check-In: Toronto Raptors

Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2024 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Toronto Raptors.

Free agent signings

• Immanuel Quickley: Five years, $162,500,000. Includes an additional $12.5MM in unlikely incentives. Re-signed using Bird rights.
• Garrett Temple: One year, minimum salary. Re-signed using minimum salary exception. Waived right to veto trade.
• Bruno Fernando: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed. Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Jamison Battle: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.
• Jared Rhoden: One year, minimum salary. Non-guaranteed (Exhibit 10). Signed using minimum salary exception.

Trades

• Acquired Davion Mitchell, Sasha Vezenkov, the draft rights to Jamal Shead (No. 45 pick), and the Trail Blazers’ 2025 second-round pick from the Kings in exchange for Jalen McDaniels.
  • Note: Vezenkov was subsequently bought out.
• Acquired the draft rights to Ulrich Chomche (No. 57 pick) from the Grizzlies in a four-team trade in exchange for cash ($1MM; to Timberwolves).

Draft picks

• 1-19: Ja’Kobe Walter
  • Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $16,785,132).
• 2-31: Jonathan Mogbo
  • Signed to three-year, $6,113,913 contract ($7,895,796). First two years guaranteed. Third-year team option.
• 2-45: Jamal Shead
  • Signed to three-year, $6,113,913 contract ($7,895,796). First two years guaranteed. Third-year team option.
• 2-57: Ulrich Chomche
  • Signed to two-year, two-year contract.

Two-way signings

• Branden Carlson
• Ulrich Chomche

Departed/unsigned free agents

• Jordan Nwora (Anadolu Efes)
• Gary Trent Jr. (Bucks)
• Malik Williams (Heat)

Other moves

• Signed Scottie Barnes to a five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension that begins in 2025/26. Projected value of $224,238,150 (starting at 25% of the cap). Projected value can increase to $269,085,780 (30% of the cap) if Barnes meets Rose Rule performance criteria. Includes 15% trade kicker.
• Exercised Bruce Brown‘s 2024/25 team option ($23,000,000).
• Bought out Sasha Vezenkov.
• Waived Javon Freeman-Liberty.
• Waived Mouhamadou Gueye (two-way).

Salary cap situation

• Operating over the cap ($140.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($170.8MM).
• Carrying approximately $161.5MM in salary.
• Hard-capped at $178,132,000.
• Full mid-level exception ($12.8MM) available.
• Three traded player exceptions available (largest worth $5,107,652).

The offseason so far

Having lost Fred VanVleet in free agency last summer, the Raptors traded OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam during the 2023/24 season, signaling that they’d decided to build around Scottie Barnes going forward and envisioned newly acquired point guard Immanuel Quickley as his running mate. It was appropriate then that the team’s two biggest moves of the 2024 offseason were locking up those cornerstone pieces to long-term contracts.

Barnes’ five-year, maximum-salary rookie scale extension is essentially the same deal that his fellow 2021 lottery picks Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, and Franz Wagner all signed this summer. And while there’s no guarantee that Barnes will be the best player in that group across the next five or six years, you can make a strong case that, of the four, he was the most deserving of a big-money investment. After all, Barnes beat out the other three for Rookie of the Year honors in 2022 and is the only player from the ’21 draft class who has made an All-Star team so far.

Barnes, 23, will need to keep making strides as a scorer and shooter in order to provide a positive return on that $224MM+ deal, but the Raptors couldn’t reasonably have expected to lock him up for anything less.

It’s not as easy to make the same claim about Quickley, whose new five-year contract includes $162.5MM in guaranteed money and an additional $12.5MM in incentives. That’s a huge price to pay for a player who had never averaged more than 15 points per game and hadn’t emerged as a full-time starter before arriving in Toronto midway through the 2023/24 season.

Quickley finished the year strong, averaging 18.6 points, 6.8 assists, and 4.8 rebounds in 33.3 minutes per game across 38 games (all starts) for Toronto. Still, his career résumé to date isn’t any stronger than that of players like Jordan Poole or Tyler Herro, who each signed long-term contracts in 2022 that were one year shorter and slightly less lucrative than Quickley’s new deal — and those contracts don’t exactly look especially team-friendly two years later.

As with Barnes’ deal, the Raptors’ investment in Quickley is more about what he can become than what he is right now. If he doesn’t improve upon his .421 career FG% or further increase his scoring and assist totals, that $32.5MM annual salary will feel like an overpay. On the plus side, it features a flat structure, meaning it’ll be worth a smaller percentage of the cap in each subsequent season.

Besides splurging on Barnes and Quickley, the Raptors didn’t make a ton of major roster moves this offseason. Garrett Temple was the only other free agent to receive guaranteed money, and he re-signed for the veteran’s minimum. Bruno Fernando also got a minimum-salary deal, and while his contract isn’t guaranteed, he has a shot to make the roster as the 15th man. Toronto opted not to bring back Gary Trent Jr., whose asking price reportedly exceeded what the club was comfortable paying.

The Raptors took on some salary in a trade with Sacramento, acquiring Sasha Vezenkov, Davion Mitchell, and a pair of second-round picks in exchange for Jalen McDaniels. It was a savvy move for a team with some breathing room below the luxury tax line and looked even better when Vezenkov agreed to give up his entire $6.66MM guaranteed salary in a buyout agreement.

As a result, the Raptors essentially took on an extra $1.7MM in salary to swap out a dud of a 2023 free agent signing (McDaniels) for a former lottery pick with some defensive upside (Mitchell) while adding a pair of second-round picks in the process. One of those second-rounders was No. 45 selection Jamal Shead, who became one of three rookies to join Toronto’s 15-man roster, along with No. 19 pick Ja’Kobe Walter and No. 31 pick Jonathan Mogbo.

Once a highly regarded program capable of turning late first-rounders (Siakam) and undrafted free agents (VanVleet) into All-Stars, the Raptors’ player development staff hasn’t had as many wins in recent years. Between this year’s rookie class and last year’s No. 13 overall pick Gradey Dick, they’ll have no shortage of developmental opportunities in 2024/25, even after having traded away their own 2024 lottery selection.

Up next

With 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts and three on two-way deals, the Raptors’ roster is essentially set for the regular season. Barring a preseason trade or a two-way change, the only real decision will be whether or not to carry a 15th man.

Fernando is the favorite for that opening, but his salary would become fully guaranteed if he remains under contract through opening night. It will be interesting to see whether or not the Raptors attempt to push back that guarantee date, allowing him to remain on the roster and essentially be paid by that day for the first few weeks of the regular season. Before he was waived by the Hawks in July, Fernando agreed to push back his guarantee date multiple times, so he’s no stranger to that type of arrangement.

After picking up Bruce Brown‘s $23MM option in June, Toronto was expected to try to find a taker for the veteran swingman and his expiring contract, but no deal materialized. Brown, who played a key role off the bench for the 2023 champion Nuggets, is the sort of jack-of-all-trades contributor who would fit in on just about any playoff team, so he’ll remain a prime trade candidate as long as he’s on the roster. While the Raptors could revisit the market this fall, an in-season move is probably more likely.

The Raptors have two players eligible for extensions, but I don’t think either Mitchell (rookie scale) or Chris Boucher (veteran) is a great candidate to sign a new contract before opening night. Mitchell has yet to play a game with Toronto and Boucher had an inconsistent role last season, averaging just 14.1 minutes per game.

I expect the Raptors to take their chances with Mitchell in restricted free agency next summer, if he’s even still on the roster by then. As for Boucher, he’ll remain extension-eligible for the entire league year, so if he enjoys a nice bounce-back season, the front office could open negotiations at any time.