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Raptors Notes: Dragic, Dekker, Bonga, Achiuwa, Barnes

November 3rd, 2021 at 10:44am CST by Luke Adams

The Raptors are on a four-game winning streak, but Goran Dragic has been a DNP-CD in all four games, raising questions about his place on the roster. While the veteran point guard clearly isn’t a long-term keeper for the Raptors, there’s no indication that he’ll be traded or bought out anytime soon, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.

As Grange explains, it’s too early in the season for any real trade market to develop for Dragic, and it’s unlikely that either the player or the team wants to make significant concessions in a buyout arrangement.

For now then, the two sides remain in an “amicable” holding pattern, says Grange — Dragic will remain on the roster as a respected veteran and talented backup, and his situation will be revisited closer to the February trade deadline.

Here’s more on the Raptors:

Within the same story, Grange says the Raptors seem likely to cut either Sam Dekker or Isaac Bonga in the coming days. Both players’ salaries for 2021/22 will become guaranteed if they remain on the roster through November 6 and Toronto can duck under the luxury tax line by waiving one or the other. Dekker and Bonga have played a combined eight total minutes this season, and would be pushed further down the depth chart once Pascal Siakam and Yuta Watanabe return from their respective injuries.
Precious Achiuwa was one of the Raptors’ key offseason acquisitions, but the young center has experienced some growing pains so far this season. As Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes, head coach Nick Nurse benched Achiuwa in favor of backup center Khem Birch to open the second half of the team’s win over the Knicks on Monday. Although Birch doesn’t have Achiuwa’s upside, the veteran has exhibited better fundamentals, playing solid team defense, setting screens, and rebounding.
Rookie forward Scottie Barnes will miss a second straight game on Wednesday vs. Washington due to a right thumb sprain, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca.

Salary Guarantee Dates For Raptors’ Dekker, Bonga Pushed To Nov. 6

October 19th, 2021 at 9:19am CST by Luke Adams

Raptors forwards Sam Dekker and Isaac Bonga earned spots on the team’s opening-night roster, but their minimum salaries won’t become fully guaranteed quite yet. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), both players have agreed to push back their salary guarantee dates to November 6. The two contracts were originally set to become guaranteed today.

Players whose contracts are non-guaranteed are typically paid by the day until their guarantee date, but Dekker has a $350K partial guarantee on his full-season salary of $1,789,256, while Bonga’s $1,729,217 salary includes a partial guarantee of $200K. That means the first 20 days of Bonga’s season are already covered by his partial guarantee, while Dekker’s partial guarantee covers the first 35 days of the season.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that November 6 is the 19th day of the NBA season, meaning the Raptors won’t be on the hook for any extra money for either Dekker or Bonga up until that date. If either player is waived on November 6, he’d still just be owed the amount of his partial guarantee. In essence, Toronto is extending the competition for the 14th roster spot by another few weeks.

It’s possible the Raptors could opt to keep both Dekker and Bonga beyond November 6, fully guaranteeing both of their salaries for 2021/22. However, it seems somewhat unlikely, since doing so would put the team over the tax line, as Marks notes (via Twitter).

Additionally, as Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca observes (via Twitter), the Raptors hope to have a healthier roster by early November. Yuta Watanabe (calf) and Chris Boucher (finger) may be back by that point, with Pascal Siakam (shoulder) getting closer to a return. That would reduce the need to carry a 15th man.

Dekker, a 2015 first-round pick who has been out of the NBA since the end of the 2018/19 season, spent time in Russia and Turkey before getting an opportunity with Toronto. Bonga signed with the Raptors this summer after spending his first three seasons with the Lakers and Wizards. He started 49 games for Washington in 2019/20, but saw his role cut back significantly last season.

Raptors Waive Ishmail Wainright

October 16th, 2021 at 6:42pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Raptors have placed Ishmail Wainright on waivers, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet (Twitter links). That could clear the way for Sam Dekker and Isaac Bonga to make the team’s 15-man roster, though the final roster deadline isn’t until Monday.

Wainwright, 27, had been playing overseas since going undrafted out of Baylor in 2017. Murphy expects other teams to have interest in Wainwright because of his versatility on defense.

Dekker, a 2015 first-round pick, has been out of the league since the end of the 2018/19 season. He spent time in Russia and Turkey before getting an opportunity with Toronto.

Bonga signed with the Raptors as an unrestricted free agent this summer after the Wizards opted not to give him a qualifying offer. The 2018 second-round pick started 49 of 66 games in 2019/20, averaging 5.0 PPG and 3.4 RPG in 18.9 MPG. His playing time dropped dramatically this past season, as he played in 40 games (eight starts) and posted modest stats (2.0 PPG, 1.7 RPG in 10.8 MPG).

Toronto will take on some dead money for Wainright if he goes unclaimed on waivers, since he had some partial guarantees on his minimum-salary contract. He’s owed $250K this season and $125K in 2022/23.

Dekker and Bonga have partial guarantees too, but their salaries for 2021/22 will reportedly become fully guaranteed if they make the opening-night roster. If the Raptors want to avoid locking in both of those cap hits, they could still decide to cut one of them before Monday’s deadline.

Raptors Notes: Roster Battle, Siakam, Boucher, Anunoby

October 14th, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The fight to make the Raptors‘ 15-man regular season squad has been one of the NBA’s more competitive preseason roster battles, with Sam Dekker, Ishmail Wainright, and Isaac Bonga vying to earn two spots (or just one, if Toronto opens the season with 14 players). Addressing the competition today, Dekker said he’ll be happy for Wainright and/or Bonga if they beat him out for a roster spot.

“These are guys I’ll stay in touch with for a long time no matter what and I’m always going to cheer for them, because it’s the weakness of a man to root for someone to fail,” Dekker said, adding that his current teammates are some of the “kindest human beings” he knows (Twitter link via Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca).

Wainright also expressed gratitude for the opportunity to make his case for a regular season roster spot, regardless of what the Raptors decide.

“No matter how it goes, I’m not going to hang my head,” Wainright said (Twitter link via Lewenberg). “My family always told me when one door closes, another opens. I’m coming out of this a better man, a better basketball player, a better person, period… Whatever happens, I gave it my all from start to finish.”

All three players have had strong camps, according to Lewenberg (Twitter link). While many teams will set their rosters by Saturday, the Raptors could wait until Monday if they want, since Dekker, Wainright, and Bonga all have partial guarantees. That means their cap hits would remain unchanged if they don’t clear waivers until after the regular season begins, unlike a player on a non-guaranteed deal, who must be waived by Saturday for a team to avoid incurring a small cap charge.

Here’s more on the Raptors:

Appearing on SiriusXM NBA Radio on Tuesday, head coach Nick Nurse said that Pascal Siakam (shoulder) is starting contact work this week and may only be a few weeks away from returning, while big man Chris Boucher (finger) is about 10 days away (Twitter link via Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca).
With Siakam sidelined to start the season and Kyle Lowry no longer a Raptor, the team is grooming OG Anunoby to be a centerpiece of its offense, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. “He’s our number one option right now,” Fred VanVleet said of his teammate. “He’s been great, he’s been assertive finding his spots, I think me and him are finding a little bit of rhythm together, so it’s good to see.”
Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca takes a look at the battle between Goran Dragic and Gary Trent Jr. for the second starting spot in the backcourt alongside VanVleet, suggesting Dragic appears to have the upper hand.
John Hollinger of The Athletic didn’t love the terms of the Raptors’ free agent contracts with Trent and Khem Birch, but praised the team for getting Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk on a minimum-salary deal. Hollinger projects the team to finish with a 40-42 record, good for ninth in the East.

Atlantic Notes: Watanabe, Gillespie, Schroder, Williams, Maxey

September 17th, 2021 at 8:10pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Raptors have 12 players with guaranteed contracts and five others with non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed deals. Eric Koreen of The Athletic speculates on who might grab the remaining roster openings, with Yuta Watanabe and Freddie Gillespie most likely to nail down spots. That would leave Sam Dekker, Ishmail Wainright and Isaac Bonga in a battle for the final spot, unless Toronto chooses to carry 14 players on the regular roster.

We have more on the Atlantic Division:

Dennis Schroder cost himself serious money but passing on a four-year, $84MM extension offer from the Lakers but he’s taking a lighthearted approach to that mistake, Brianna Williams of ESPN relays. In an Instagram post, the Celtics guard — who settled for a one-year, $5.9MM contract — said he “fumbled the bag” and invited fans to insert their best joke about his bad free agent gamble.
Details on Robert Williams‘ extension with the Celtics were reported late last month and now Keith Smith provides more specifics on the incentives in the four-year deal (Twitter link). Williams will make $446,429 if he plays 69 games; an additional $223,215 if the team reaches the conference semifinals along with meeting the games criteria; $223,214 more if the Celtics make the Eastern Conference finals; and $446,429 if he’s named to the league’s All-Defense First Team, or $223,215 if he’s named to the All-Defense Second Team. Those incentives will increase by 8% per year after the deal goes into effect in 2022/23.
Would the Sixers benefit from Tyrese Maxey‘s offensive skills in the starting lineup? Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice takes a closer look at whether playing Maxey with the other starters would make Philadelphia a better postseason team in the long run.

Implications Of Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk Deal For Raptors

August 29th, 2021 at 1:50pm CST by Eli Cohen

With the signing of Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, the battles for the Raptors’ final roster spots are coming into focus, Blake Murphy of The Athletic tweets.

Murphy writes that the player option included in Mykhailiuk’s deal makes it very likely he gets one of the team’s final roster spots, especially given Toronto’s lack of guaranteed depth at the shooting guard spot. Second-round pick David Johnson and partially-guaranteed Ishmail Wainright are the only shooting guards on the roster beyond Gary Trent Jr. Fred VanVleet has seen plenty of time at the position in recent years, but is almost certainly going to start games as the team’s point guard.

Murphy adds that if Mykhailiuk is guaranteed a spot on the 15-man roster, that means that Wainright, Freddie Gillespie, Sam Dekker, Isaac Bonga, and Yuta Watanabe will vie for the final three openings. Gillespie and Watanabe both showed promise for the Raptors in limited time last season, while Bonga has at times proved an interesting, potential-filled player as a 6’9″ playmaker with decent defensive instincts and some shooting ability.

Murphy added in a response to his initial tweet that Watanabe is considered a heavy favorite for a spot after his strong play last season, but given his non-guaranteed contract, he’s not quite a lock. Murphy also says that Egyptian big man Anas Mahmoud is likely to receive an Exhibit 10 deal.

In a final tweet, Murphy adds that the Raptors are operating like a team that knows that it’ll be able to move Goran Dragic by the deadline to avoid a tax bill.

Contract Details: Noel, Dekker, Robinson-Earl, Joseph

August 11th, 2021 at 10:35am CST by Luke Adams

Nerlens Noel‘s three-year deal with the Knicks – reported last week to be worth $32MM – actually has a lower base value than expected, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, who said in an Instagram video that the deal starts at $8.8MM.

Keith Smith of Spotrac tweets the year-by-year breakdown of Noel’s contract, which has a third-year team option and is worth $27.72MM in total. The agreement includes $4MM in total unlikely incentives, says Smith. If the Knicks center doesn’t earn any of those incentives and doesn’t have his third-year option picked up, he’d end up earning a little over $18MM for two seasons.

Here are a few more new contract details from around the NBA:

Sam Dekker‘s one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Raptors features a partial guarantee worth $350K, according to Smith (Twitter link). Dekker’s salary will become fully guaranteed if he makes Toronto’s regular season roster.
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl‘s four-year contract with the Thunder includes fully guaranteed salaries of $2MM apiece in the first two seasons, followed by a non-guaranteed third year and a fourth-year team option, per Marks (Instagram video). It’s the same structure Oklahoma City used a year ago to sign another early second-round pick, Theo Maledon.
The Pistons completed the signing of Cory Joseph – which became official on Tuesday – using the room exception after using up their cap space, according to Marks (Instagram video). Joseph got $10MM over two years, with a second-year player option.

Sam Dekker Signs With Raptors

August 3rd, 2021 at 10:03am CST by Arthur Hill

AUGUST 9: The Raptors’ signing of Dekker is now official, having been registered in the NBA’s transactions log. Dekker also tweeted about the signing, which marks his return to the league after a two-year hiatus.

AUGUST 5: The Raptors will sign forward Sam Dekker, who has been out of the NBA for the past two seasons, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The move was confirmed by Dekker’s agents, Andy Shiffman and Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports.

Dekker will receive a partial guarantee to come to training camp, a source tells Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link).

Dekker last played in the NBA in 2018/19, appearing in nine games with the Cavaliers and 38 with the Wizards. He spent two years with the Rockets after being selected with the 18th pick in the 2015 draft and played a year for the Clippers as well. Through 200 total NBA games, Dekker averages 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in 15.5 minutes per night.

The 27-year-old played last season for Turk Telekom of the Turkish Super League after spending the previous year with Lokomotive Kuban in Russia.

International Notes: Ennis, Dekker, Macon, Adel, Landale

July 24th, 2020 at 2:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran guard Tyler Ennis and forward Sam Dekker spent a half-season in 2016/17 as teammates with the Rockets. Now, they’re set to team up again for the 2020/21 season — this time, it’ll happen in Turkey rather than in Houston.

Turk Telekom BK published a pair of tweets this week welcoming Ennis and Dekker to the team, an indication that both players have reached deals with the Turkish club.

Ennis and Dekker were 18th overall picks in back-to-back NBA drafts (2014 and 2015), with Ennis appearing in 186 total games for four clubs, while Dekker logged 200 appearances for four clubs. Neither player was in the NBA in 2019/20, as Ennis spent the season with Raptors 905 in the G League, while Dekker played in Russia for Lokomotiv Kuban.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the world of international basketball:

Turkish team Galatasaray has signed former Arkansas guard Daryl Macon to a one-year contract, the team announced in a press release. Macon began the 2019/20 season on a two-year deal with Miami, but was waived in January to open up a spot for Gabe Vincent.
Former Louisville forward Deng Adel, who was on a two-way contract with Cleveland in 2018/19 and was with the Nets in camp last fall, has signed with the Illawarra Hawks of Australia’s National Basketball League, the team announced in a press release. According to the club, Adel received interest from several others NBL teams before signing with the Hawks.
Former Saint Mary’s big man Jock Landale isn’t expected to return to Zalgiris Kaunas for the 2020/21 season, according to Donatas Urbonas (Twitter link). Urbonas previously reported that the Lithuanian team was preparing for Landale to opt out of the final year of his contract and potentially seek an NBA job.

International Notes: Dekker, Kokoskov, Crawford, P. Jones

July 4th, 2020 at 5:15pm CST by Arthur Hill

Panathinaikos is targeting former NBA forward Sam Dekker for next season, according to Stavros Barbarousis of Eurohoops. The Greek club is under new management and is considering Dekker as a possible replacement for Deshaun Thomas.

Dekker, 26, played for Lokomotiv Kuban this year, averaging 13.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in the EuroCup and 11.4 PPG and 4.9 RPG in the VTB League. It was the first season outside the NBA for the former first-round pick after spending time with the Rockets, Clippers, Cavaliers and Wizards.

There’s more international news to pass along:

Kings assistant Igor Kokoskov was introduced today as the new head coach of Fenerbahce in the EuroLeague, according to EuroHoops. He reportedly received a three-year deal to take over the Turkish team. “I feel obligated to the Fenerbahce fans and the people who brought me here to give them the best of my abilities, experience and knowledge to help this club keep being successful as it is,” he said. “Fenerbahce fans love their basketball team, so we will give our best to keep them happy by winning lots of basketball games and trophies.” Kokoskov, who spent a season as head coach of the Suns, also coaches the Serbian National Team.
Jordan Crawford has signed a one-year deal with Lokomotiv Kuban, Barbarousis writes in a separate story. Crawford, 31, played for five teams in eight NBA seasons before moving overseas early last year. He played in Israel and China before spending part of this season with Brose Bamberg in Germany.
Former NBA first-round pick Perry Jones III will continue his career with Bursaspor in Turkey, tweets Nicola Lupo of Sportando. The 28-year-old spent three seasons with the Thunder.