Hoops Rumors is breaking down the 2018 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, revisiting the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll evaluate each team’s moves from the last several months and look ahead to what the 2018/19 season holds for all 30 franchises. Today, we’re focusing on the Toronto Raptors.
Signings:
- Standard contracts:
- Fred VanVleet: Two years, $18MM. Re-signed using Bird rights.
- Greg Monroe: One year, minimum salary. Signed using minimum salary exception.
- Lorenzo Brown: One year, minimum salary. Partially guaranteed ($800K). Re-signed using minimum salary exception.
- Two-way contracts:
- Jordan Loyd
- Chris Boucher (converted from Exhibit 10 contract)
- Non-guaranteed camp contracts:
- Deng Adel: One year, minimum salary (waived).
- Kyle Collinsworth: One year, minimum salary (waived).
- Kay Felder: One year, minimum salary (waived).
- Eric Moreland: One year, minimum salary (waived).
Trades:
- Acquired Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green from the Spurs in exchange for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and the Raptors’ 2019 first-round pick (top-20 protected).
Draft picks:
- None
Departing players:
- DeMar DeRozan
- Alfonzo McKinnie (waived)
- Malcolm Miller (two-way)
- Lucas Nogueira
- Jakob Poeltl
Other offseason news:
Salary cap situation:
- Remained over the cap.
- Carrying approximately $139.8MM in guaranteed salaries.
- Projected tax bill of $34.5MM.
- Full taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.34MM) still available.
Check out the Toronto Raptors’ full roster and depth chart at RosterResource.com.
Story of the summer:
During the summer of 2017, after a second straight dispiriting postseason loss to the Cavaliers, the Raptors doubled down on their core, re-signing Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka to lucrative new contracts and bringing back head coach Dwane Casey. With the help of a new offensive scheme – attributed in large part to assistant Nick Nurse – Toronto earned the No. 1 seed in the East last season, winning a franchise-best 59 games.
However, after the Cavaliers once again dismantled the Raptors in the playoffs, the team couldn’t simply run it back again. Casey, despite being named the NBA’s Coach of the Year, was dismissed and replaced by Nurse. And DeMar DeRozan, the team’s MVP in 2017/18, was sent to San Antonio in a blockbuster trade that landed the Raptors Kawhi Leonard, a legit two-way star.
The acquisition of Leonard was a huge roll of the dice for president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri, who later told reporters that the two-time All-NBA forward represents the sort of perennial MVP candidate that the Raptors have never had on their roster before. That’s undoubtedly true, but Kawhi is also coming off a season in which he only played nine games due to a quad injury. Plus, he’s eligible for free agency in 2019, meaning his stay in Toronto could be short-lived.
It’s a thrilling gamble for a team that needed to take one. Even with longtime tormentor LeBron James no longer in the Eastern Conference, the Raptors were about to be surpassed by the Celtics and Sixers and were no lock to take a step forward in 2018/19 with their old roster. Ujiri’s offseason shakeup raises Toronto’s ceiling for 2018/19.