An undrafted free agent out of Marquette in 2021, Carton began his professional career by playing in the G League and didn’t get a shot with an NBA team during the regular season until this past February, when the Raptors signed him to a 10-day contract. Toronto brought him back on a two-year, two-way deal after that initial contract expired.

Across parts of two seasons with the Raptors, Carton has appeared in eight NBA games, logging just 69 total minutes. The 6’3″ guard has compiled 14 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals with a .267/.143/.833 shooting line during his limited NBA minutes while continuing to play a significant role in the G League when healthy.

Carton averaged 16.3 PPG, 7.0 APG, and 4.7 RPG in three outings for the Raptors 905 this fall, but has battled foot and ankle issues since joining the club, notes Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter links).

According to Murphy, the Timberwolves control Carton’s G League rights, so if he opts to return to the NBAGL after clearing waivers, the Iowa Wolves would get the first shot at him.

Toronto is now one of just two NBA teams with an open two-way slot — Orlando is the other, as our tracker shows.

We have more on the Raptors:

• Expect coach Darko Rajakovic to mix and match and use his bench quite often this season, Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes. “I think this season, we don’t have a cemented (starting) five. Off the bench, I think pretty much all the roster, going from five to 15, those guys are talented and great players and they’re competing for minutes,” Rajaković said. “They’re competing for a spot. So I can see us being this year much more fluid, and I’m going to be much more experimenting and giving guys opportunities in games just to see their growth and how they can affect the game.”
• By almost default, Gradey Dick will likely be in the starting five at the beginning of the regular season, Koreen adds in the same story. The other logical options, Bruce Brown and first-round pick Ja’Kobe Walter, are not participating in training camp due to injuries. Dick is the only other player who can space the floor adequately for Barnes and Immanuel Quickley, Koreen notes.
• Two-way player D.J. Carton and third-year wing Ochai Agbaji stood out Friday night when the Raptors held an open scrimmage at McGill University, according to Michael Grange of Sportnet. Agbaji was acquired from Utah at last season’s trade deadline and started 18 of 27 games after the deal. “The opportunity and the amount of opportunity that’s out there, you can feel it,” he said. “And obviously everyone that’s going in here and going 110 per cent, it’s just making everybody better.” The Raptors have until Oct. 31 to decide whether to pick up Agbaji’s $6,383,525 option for the 2025/26 season.

If he had been a free agent, it would have been difficult to secure insurance ahead of Canada’s training camp, which opens in Toronto in late June.

“That was definitely a big part of it, as well, getting this out of the way,” he said. “To not have [the contract situation] on your plate and your mind, just be able to play free and easy, and then obviously in the summer just be able to work out, train, and be present right at the start with no complications was a big factor. That also played a huge part in the decision.”

Olynyk, acquired from Utah, signed a two-year, $26.25MM extension. The Toronto native hopes to remain with the Raptors the remainder of his career.

“They traded for me, they wanted me here,” Olynyk said. “Just to reciprocate that love and show that I do want to be here, too – I’ve wanted to be here since I was four years old. It’s special, to create that trust and that bond. Hopefully I’ll be here for the rest of my career.”

We have more on the Raptors:

• Securing Olynyk’s services on a reasonable contract was a savvy move by the franchise, according to The Athletic’s Eric Koreen. Olynyk’s first year salary of approximately $12.8MM is less than the $18.3MM cap hold he would have had as a free agent. That potentially will give Toronto $5.3MM in extra cap room. On the court, Olynyk’s skill set will help head coach Darko Rajakovic continue to build his movement-heavy offense, Koreen adds.
• The two-way contracts for D.J. Carton and Mouhamadou Gueye are both two-year deals, Blake Murphy of Sportsnet tweets. They’ll get the full guarantee allowable (50% of a 2024/25 two-way contract) if they remain with the team on two-way deals next season. The Raptors also have option to convert their contracts to standard deals at any time over the two-year period.
• Scottie Barnes hasn’t formally been ruled out for the season after he underwent hand surgery on Monday, Lewenberg tweets. “Everybody would like him to come back and finish the season,” Rajakovic said. “I know he’s eager but we just don’t have enough information at this time.”

Carton has spent nearly his entire professional career in the G League since going undrafted out of Marquette in 2021. After one year with the Greensboro Swarm, he has spent the past two seasons with the Iowa Wolves, Minnesota’s NBAGL affiliate.

In 29 games this season for Iowa, Carton averaged 18.6 points, 5.7 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.6 steals in 35.4 minutes per contest, with a strong shooting line of .527/.395/.796.

That performance earned him a call-up to the NBA on a 10-day deal with the Raptors on February 21. He appeared in two games with Toronto during those 10 days, scoring eight points and handing out a pair of assists in 11 minutes of action.

The Raptors opened up a two-way slot on their roster by promoting Javon Freeman-Liberty to a standard contract on Friday night — Markquis Nowell and Jontay Porter are the team’s other two-way players.

Following Carton’s signing, Toronto now has 17 of its 18 total roster spots filled, with one standard spot still available.

9:21am: The Raptors are set to fill one of their open roster spots by signing guard D.J. Carton to a 10-day contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).

A pair of spots on Toronto’s standard 15-man roster opened up earlier this week when 10-day deals for Justise Winslow and Mouhamadou Gueye expired. The Raptors had up to two weeks to fill at least one of those openings, but it appears they won’t waste any time getting back to the NBA-mandated roster minimum.

Carton has spent his professional career in the G League since going undrafted out of Marquette in 2021. After one year with the Greensboro Swarm, he has spent the past two seasons with the Iowa Wolves, Minnesota’s NBAGL affiliate.

In 29 games this season for Iowa, Carton has averaged 18.6 points, 5.7 assists, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.6 steals in 35.4 minutes per contest, with a strong shooting line of .527/.395/.796.

Carton’s 10-day contract with Toronto will cover the team’s first five games after the All-Star break. He’ll earn a salary of $64,343 for his 10 days with the Raptors, who will still have one open roster spots after officially signing Carton.

Carton, who went undrafted in 2021, was signed to an Exhibit 10 deal that would entitle him to a bonus worth up to $75K if he spends at least 60 days with the Iowa Wolves, Minnesota’s G League affiliate. He spent last season with Iowa, averaging 15.6 PPG, 5.5 APG, 4.0 RPG and 1.2 SPG on .529/.365/.813 shooting in 25 regular season contests (31.0 MPG).

Keels also signed a training camp deal that featured an Exhibit 10 clause. The 42nd pick of last year’s draft spent 2022/23 on a two-way deal with the Knicks, appearing in three games with New York. He spent most of his rookie season in the G League with the Westchester Knicks.

The 51st overall pick in the 2022 draft, Martin was waived by Atlanta in July after appearing in just 16 games for the Hawks last season as a rookie. He scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in his 66 total minutes at the NBA level.

Martin saw more frequent playing time for the College Park Skyhawks in the G League, averaging 18.0 PPG, 9.2 RPG, and 1.9 APG on .503/.366/.805 shooting in 23 regular season contests (33.9 MPG) for Atlanta’s G League affiliate. It’s unclear what type of contract he signed with Minnesota.

The Wolves now have 17 players under contract, with 14 players on guaranteed standard deals and all three two-way spots filled.

Carton joined the Hornets after going undrafted in 2021, but he was waived before the start of the season. He has been in the G League since then, spending one season with Greensboro and playing for Minnesota’s affiliate in Iowa last year. He averaged 13.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 47 combined G League games.

He also played for the Timberwolves during this year’s Summer League, averaging 9.0 points and a team-best 6.8 assists in five games.

Carton received an Exhibit 10 contract, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. That means he’ll be eligible to earn a bonus of up to $75K if he gets waived by Minnesota and spends at least 60 more days with Iowa.

The Timberwolves created a roster opening by waiving Vit Krejci on Wednesday. They’re now back to the preseason limit of 21 players.

Carton, a 6’2″ guard, played for one year at Ohio State before transferring to Marquette last season. He averaged 13 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game as a junior, then signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Charlotte in August after going undrafted in July.

Sneed, who went undrafted out of Kansas State in 2020, signed a training camp contract with Charlotte last offseason and then was waived at the end of the preseason. The 6’5″ wing played in 13 games (23.3 MPG) for the Greensboro Swarm, the Hornets’ G League affiliate, averaging 8.1 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 1.8 APG, and 1.8 SPG with a .360/.279/.875 shooting line.

Both Carton and Sneed seem likely to end up playing for the Swarm this season.

Charlotte now has 16 players on guaranteed contracts and a pair of players on two-way deals. The club will need to trade or release at least one player on a guaranteed contract before the regular season begins. The Hornets may also continue to move players in and out of their two open roster spots in order to secure their G League rights and/or ensure they receive an Exhibit 10 bonus.

JULY 30: The Hornets will sign undrafted rookie D.J. Carton to an Exhibit 10 contract, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The 6’2″ guard played for one year at Ohio State before transferring to Marquette last season. He averaged 13 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game as a junior.

The Hornets were among the teams Carton visited for a workout before the draft.

The Exhibit 10 deal will give Carton an opportunity to attend training camp with Charlotte and possibly land a two-way contract or become an affiliate player with the Greensboro Swarm.

Potential first-round Jaden Springer (Tennessee) heads the list of prospects who will work out for the club on Thursday, Hughes tweets. They’ll also take a look at Zane Martin (Towson), Asbjorn Midtgaard (Grand Canyon), Eugene Omoruyi (Oregon), Micah Potter (Wisconsin) and Guilherme Santos (Minas-Brazil).

We have more draft workout info:

• Jaden Springer, a point guard currently ranked No. 27 on ESPN’s Best Available list, has also worked out for the Knicks, Spurs, Thunder and Pelicans, Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report tweets.
• G League Ignite forward Jonathan Kuminga, ranked No. 5 by ESPN, worked out for the Cavaliers on Wednesday, Chris Fedor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. The Cavs hold the No. 3 overall pick.
• Jose Alvarado (Georgia Tech), Dalano Banton (Nebraska), Chaundee Brown (Michigan), Sharife Cooper (Auburn), Jalen Crutcher (Dayton) and Mac McClung (Texas Tech) will work out for the Pacers on Thursday, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files tweets.
• The Hornets hosted Vrenz Bleijenbergh (Antwerp Belgium), Feron Hunt (SMU), D.J. Stewart (Mississippi State), Ethan Thompson (Oregon State), Romeo Weems (DePaul) and Marcus Zegarowski (Creighton), the team’s PR department tweets.
• Illinois big man Giorgi Bezhanishvili is working out for the Hawks Thursday, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic tweets. He’s also worked out recently for the Bucks and Grizzlies.

There’s more on the draft:

• The Hornets tweeted their draft prospect workouts for Saturday, July 3. The club took a look at the following players: Western Kentucky center Charles Bassey, Marquette guard D.J. Carton, Oregon guard Chris Duarte, Tennessee guard Keon Johnson, Kentucky forward Isaiah Jackson, and Alabama guard Joshua Primo. Charlotte currently possesses the No. 11 and No. 56 picks in the upcoming 2021 draft.
• 6’10” Belgian wing Vrenz Bleijenbergh has pre-draft workouts scheduled with the Thunder, Grizzlies, Pistons and Kings, tweets Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report. Wasserman notes that the oversized small forward is thought of as a solid play-maker and shooter.
• Florida power forward Colin Castleton plans to return to school for the 2021/22 season, and will accordingly withdraw from the 2021 NBA draft, tweets Jeff Goodman of Stadium. The 6’11” Castleton averaged 12.4 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 1.1 APG last season.

The G League Elite Camp is back this year after being canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event, which takes place right before the draft combine, will give a few dozen draft-eligible players an opportunity to impress scouts, coaches, and executives through strength and agility drills and 5-on-5 games.

As today’s announcement confirms, a select number of draft-eligible prospects participating in the G League Elite Camp will also be invited to attend the combine itself, which is scheduled for June 21-27 in Chicago.

The list of draft-eligible players who took part in the most recent G League Elite Camp in 2019 included a handful of prospects who were eventually drafted, such as Terance Mann, Cody Martin, Justin Wright-Foreman, Reggie Perry, and Dewan Hernandez.

Many of the draft-eligible participants in the 2019 Elite Camp also made it to the NBA after going undrafted, including Oshae Brissett, Chris Clemons, Tyler Cook, Tacko Fall, DaQuan Jeffries, Caleb Martin, Justin Robinson, and Max Strus.

Two years ago, this event also featured 40 G League veterans, for a total of 80 players. Based on today’s press release, it sounds like this year’s Elite Camp may be pared down to only include draft-eligible prospects, though it’s possible the NBAGL will announce more names within the next few days.

Here are the 40 draft-eligible prospects participating in the 2021 G League Elite Camp:

1. Derrick Alston Jr. (Boise State)
2. Keve Aluma (Virginia Tech)
3. Jose Alvarado (Georgia Tech)
4. Juhann Begarin (France)
5. Chaundee Brown (Michigan)
6. Jordan Burns (Colgate)
7. Marcus Carr (Minnesota)
8. D.J. Carton (Marquette)
9. Moussa Cisse (Memphis)
10. Kofi Cockburn (Illinois)
11. Oscar Da Silva (Stanford)
12. Darius Days (LSU)
13. Hunter Dickinson (Michigan)
14. Dawson Garcia (Marquette)
15. Marcus Garrett (Kansas)
16. Haowen Guo (China)
17. Jay Huff (Virginia)
18. DeJon Jarreau (Houston)
19. Carlik Jones (Louisville)
20. DeVante’ Jones (Coastal Carolina)
21. Balsa Koprivica (Florida State)
22. A.J. Lawson (South Carolina)
23. E.J. Liddell (Ohio State)
24. Mac McClung (Texas Tech)
25. JaQuori McLaughlin (UCSB)
26. Matt Mitchell (San Diego State)
27. RJ Nembhard (TCU)
28. Eugene Omoruyi (Oregon)
29. EJ Onu (Shawnee State)
30. Scotty Pippen Jr. (Vanderbilt)
31. Orlando Robinson (Fresno State)
32. Aamir Simms (Clemson)
33. Javonte Smart (LSU)
34. Mike Smith (Michigan)
35. D.J. Stewart (Mississippi State)
36. MaCio Teague (Baylor)
37. M.J. Walker (Florida State)
38. Duane Washington (Ohio State)
39. Aaron Wiggins (Maryland)
40. Jalen Wilson (Kansas)

Carton, who transferred to Marquette after spending his freshman year at Ohio State, averaged 13.0 points and 3.4 assists per game in 27 contests (31.1 MPG) in 2020/21. However, he struggled with his three-point shot, making just 28.2% of his attempts after knocking down 40.0% as a freshman. He also turned the ball over 3.2 times per game.

Here are a few more draft-related updates:

• Texas junior guard Courtney Ramey announced on Instagram that he’ll test the draft waters. Ramey averaged 12.2 PPG and 3.9 APG in 26 games (33.5 MPG) for the Longhorns in 2020/21.
• As 247Sports.com first reported and as Schuyler Callihan of SI.com further details, West Virginia forward/center Derek Culver has decided to leave school and go pro, forgoing his senior year. He put up 14.3 PPG and 9.4 RPG in 29 games (26.3 MPG) for the Mountaineers as a junior.
• It has been more challenging than ever for NBA teams to scout international prospects in person this year, but there are a handful of players overseas generating buzz as potential first-round picks. Mike Schmitz of ESPN (Insider link) and John Hollinger of The Athletic both took a closer look at some of those top international prospects, with a focus on intriguing Turkish big man Alperen Sengun.
• Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report identifies three realistic targets for each NBA team with a first-round pick, based on their needs and where they’ll likely be drafting.