Toronto Raptors Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Raptors Sign Dennis Schröder To Two-Year Contract

July 12th, 2023 at 2:23pm CST by Rory Maher

JULY 12: The Raptors have officially signed Schröder, the team confirmed today in a press release.

“Dennis is fierce, he’s creative, and above all, he’s competitive,” Raptors president Masai Ujiri said in a statement. “We’re excited to welcome Dennis to Toronto, and are looking forward to seeing him on the Scotiabank Arena court.”

JUNE 30: After losing Fred VanVleet to Houston, the Raptors have moved quickly to add a point guard in free agency. Toronto has agreed to sign Dennis Schröder to a two-year, $26MM contract, agent Mark Bartelstein tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The terms suggest that the Raptors will be signing Schröder using their full non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which would be worth about $25.4MM over two years. The deal is fully guaranteed, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link).

As Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype tweets, the Raptors are about $10MM below the luxury tax line after the signing, with 14 players on standard deals. Toronto could choose to waive Thaddeus Young‘s partially guaranteed contract (it’s only guaranteed for $1MM but has a total value of $8MM — the guarantee deadline is today) to create more flexibility, but they’ll still have the bi-annual exception to work with, Gozlan notes.

Schröder brings plenty of experience to table, having just completed his 10th NBA season. The veteran guard is still only 29 years old, however, and won’t turn 30 until September.

The 17th pick of the 2013 draft out of Germany, Schröder spent his first five seasons with the Hawks. He’s bounced around quite a bit since then, playing for the Thunder, Lakers (twice), Celtics and Rockets over the past five seasons.

While Schröder isn’t a great outside shooter (33.7% from three career), he’s solid from mid-range, has a nice teardrop floater, can draw fouls, and is a good pick-and-roll ball-handler. He also played excellent on-ball defense with the Lakers in 2022/23, playing an important role during the club’s run to the Western Conference Finals.

Still one of the quickest players in the league, Schröder averaged 12.6 PPG, 4.5 APG and 2.5 RPG on .415/.329/.857 shooting in 66 games (30.1 MPG). Those numbers don’t tell the whole story, as the Lakers were much better when he was on the court in both the regular season and the postseason.

Schröder was playing on a minimum-salary deal last season, so he got a nice raise for his solid second stint with Los Angeles.

Trade Rumors: Harden, Bogdanovic, Mavs, Zion, Blazers

July 12th, 2023 at 1:48pm CST by Luke Adams

Although James Harden hasn’t backed off the trade request he made in June, there’s no indication that the Sixers are on the verge of dealing the former MVP, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne said during an appearance on NBA Today on Tuesday (YouTube link).

“(Harden and the Sixers) have spoken again, and he still reiterated he wants to be traded,” Shelburne said. “Now, this isn’t a demand, it’s a request. I think the Sixers have said, ‘Okay, we will try to trade you,’ but there is no hurry to do this. I think the Sixers understand that they have the leverage here. James has picked up his option… He’s going to be a free agent after this season, so at some point he needs to play, whether that’s in Philadelphia or elsewhere.”

The situation in Philadelphia, as Shelburne portrays it, isn’t acrimonious. While Harden would prefer to play elsewhere, it’s not necessarily a sure thing that he’ll be wearing another uniform when the 2023/24 season begins.

“There is a sense that if they can give it some time – and he’s cool with his teammates, he’s been talking to Joel Embiid, he’s been talking to Patrick Beverley, P.J. Tucker – that eventually maybe those fences can be mended, and there is a path to reconciliation with James Harden,” Shelburne said. “But for now, he has reiterated his trade request.”

Here are a few more trade-related items from around the NBA:

In the latest episode of his Howdy Partners podcast (YouTube link; hat tip to The Smoking Cuban), ESPN’s Tim MacMahon said he has “heard some rumblings” about the Mavericks circling back to Pistons forward Bojan Bogdanovic, who was linked to Dallas prior to the draft. MacMahon cautions that he’s not sure the Mavs have the assets to land Bogdanovic, given Detroit’s high asking price, and suggests Dallas’ priority may be to trade for a starting-caliber center.
According to Jake Madison of Locked on Pelicans (Twitter link), Chris Haynes of TNT said on a TV broadcast last Friday that league executives got the sense this offseason that Pelicans forward Zion Williamson could be had “for the right situation and the right package.” However, sources have told Zach Lowe of ESPN (Insider link) that New Orleans wasn’t prepared to “pivot away” from Williamson on draft day, and ESPN’s Andrew Lopez said in the latest Hoop Collective podcast (YouTube link) that the Pelicans’ trade offers for the No. 2 and No. 3 picks in this year’s draft were heavily based around future picks, not players.
Within that same ESPN.com story, Lowe says he hasn’t heard compelling evidence that a “sensible” trade was available for the Trail Blazers with the No. 3 overall pick last month. The Nets never showed any interest in giving up Mikal Bridges for a package based around the No. 3 pick and Anfernee Simons, according to Lowe, who says the Heat “chuckled” at the idea of Portland asking for Bam Adebayo. The Raptors also weren’t ready to move off of Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby as of draft day, Lowe adds, though it’s unclear if the Blazers would have moved the No. 3 pick in a deal for either player.

Pacers Pursuing Pascal Siakam

July 10th, 2023 at 3:49pm CST by Rory Maher

There has been increased talk around the NBA about the Raptors moving Pascal Siakam, with the Pacers viewed as a “legitimate trade contender” for the star forward, league sources tell Marc Stein at Substack.

The Hawks are another team that has been repeatedly linked to Siakam, Stein notes, and other unknown teams are likely in the mix as well.

Stein’s read on the situation in Toronto is that the Raptors want to give Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby a bigger opportunity to expand their offensive games, particularly with Fred VanVleet‘s departure to Houston. Siakam’s heavy usage rate seems to stand in the way of that happening, according to Stein, who points out that Siakam (29) is several years older than Barnes (21) and Anunoby (25).

After a weekend at Summer League, Stein views a trade as a “far more likely outcome” than a contract extension. As of last week, Siakam and the Raptors had yet to formally meet to discuss a possible contract extension.

Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca was first to report the Pacers’ interest in Siakam. He also wrote that the veteran’s absence at Summer League could be viewed as a sign that Siakam might be dealt, with the Raptors hoping to find a deal sooner rather than later.

A two-time All-NBA member, Siakam reportedly doesn’t want to play anywhere but Toronto. He averaged 24.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists in 71 games (37.4 minutes) last season, with the points and assists per game representing career highs.

Raptors Notes: Siakam, Anunoby, Dick, Wieskamp

July 10th, 2023 at 10:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Pascal Siakam‘s absence from the Raptors‘ Summer League games could be an indication that his time with the franchise is close to an end, writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. Las Vegas is typically a gathering place for established NBA players during Summer League action, but Siakam has stayed away amid rumors that he might be dealt soon and Toronto’s refusal to engage in extension talks.

The Hawks have been linked to Siakam and the Pacers have contacted the Raptors as well, sources tell Grange. Toronto officials are still exploring what they might be able to get in return for the 29-year-old forward, but they would prefer to close a deal fairly quickly, according to Grange.

Grange adds that even if Siakam is moved, it won’t be the start of a complete rebuild. Trading Siakam won’t make the Raptors any more likely to part with OG Anunoby, and sources tell Grange that teams who inquire about Anunoby shouldn’t expect to have their calls returned.

There’s more on the Raptors:

Gradey Dick hasn’t lived up to his reputation as a shooter during his first two Summer League outings, but he’s been able to contribute in other ways, observes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. The lottery pick is just 8-for-25 in Las Vegas, but he’s an active cutter and rebounder and seems to know how to get to the basketball. “He’s got an all-around game. I know he came in as a shooter.” Summer League coach Pat Delany said. “That’s what he does. It’s a strength of his. But I also think, too, there are other things that he does offensively as well — the passing, the cutting, the movement without the ball.”
After losing Fred VanVleet with nothing in return, the Raptors have to make sure they’re not in the same position with their free agents next summer, Koreen adds in a separate story. He points out that Siakam and Anunoby will be two of the top names on the 2024 market if they aren’t traded or extended before then.
Joe Wieskamp is literally fighting for his job at Summer League, notes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. The 23-year-old swingman, who signed with Toronto in February, recently agreed to move the guarantee date for his $1.927MM salary for next season from June 29 to July 18. “They saw me throughout the season,” Wieskamp said. “I was there for three months, playing with the G League, in practices with (the Raptors) every day, even though I didn’t get too many opportunities with the Raptors on the main floor. But they’ve seen my game a lot. It’s just an accumulation of things and they just want to keep seeing more of me. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing.”

Rockets Notes: VanVleet, Free Agency, Brooks, Thompson

July 9th, 2023 at 11:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Fred VanVleet was one of the biggest winners in free agency, landing a max contract to join the Rockets as their new on-court leader, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. The veteran point guard said Houston officials have assured him that he won’t have to change anything about his game.

“They don’t want me to be anybody but myself,” VanVleet said. “And I know people are crazy about the number, but the league is growing every year and that number won’t be that number in a few years. So I know it’s a shock factor with the narrative that I have around me as an undrafted guy, but I’m going to work every day to make sure I prove every penny.”

VanVleet worked out this week with his new backcourt partner, Jalen Green, and he’s in Las Vegas to watch more of his young teammates in Summer League action. He’s looking forward to a fresh start after spending his first seven NBA seasons with the Raptors.

“I owed my whole NBA career to them, but I think it was just time for a change of scenery,” VanVleet said. “I’m just really excited about being with a new group and trying to lead these guys the best I can.”

There’s more on the Rockets:

General manager Rafael Stone was looking for players with “an edge” when he went shopping with more than $60MM in cap space, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Houston was among the NBA’s worst defensive teams during its three years of rebuilding, so Stone was determined to find players who are willing to compete on that end of the court. In addition to VanVleet, he landed Jeff Green, Jock Landale and Aaron Holiday in free agency, along with Dillon Brooks in a five-team sign-and-trade deal that was finalized Saturday night. “First, they’re really good basketball players who have won a lot of games and not by accident,” Stone said. “We really wanted to add veteran players who still fit our timeline and knew how to win. And we think we accomplished that.”
In an interview with Kelly Iko of The Athletic, Brooks said he’s looking forward to bringing his influence to a young team that needs to learn how to win. “I can’t wait to work with Tari (Eason),” Brooks said. “I feel like he can be a great player in this NBA — especially a great defender — and grow his game, his athleticism and everything.”
Amen Thompson‘s Summer League debut provided more evidence that the Rockets made the right pick at No. 4, Iko adds in a separate story. Before leaving with an ankle injury, the 6’7″ point guard produced 16 points, four rebounds, five assists, four blocks and three steals in 28 minutes and showed he knows how to attack a defense that’s daring him to shoot from the outside.

NBA Reveals Dates, Groups For In-Season Tournament

July 8th, 2023 at 7:40pm CST by Arthur Hill

The NBA has announced the five-team groups that will used for the league’s first-ever in-season tournament, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The unveiling took place Saturday during a special episode of ESPN’s “NBA Today” held at “NBA Con” in Las Vegas.

The groups were determined in a draw similar to what is used in soccer’s World Cup. There are six groups — three each from the Eastern Conference and Western Conference — and each conference was split into five pots based on last season’s standings. One team was randomly selected from each of the pots to determine the opening-round matchups.

The results are:

Group 1: Sixers, Cavaliers, Hawks, Pacers and Pistons.
Group 2: Bucks, Knicks, Heat, Wizards and Hornets.
Group 3: Celtics, Nets, Raptors, Bulls and Magic.
Group 4: Grizzlies, Suns, Lakers, Jazz and Trail Blazers.
Group 5: Nuggets, Clippers, Pelicans, Mavericks and Rockets.
Group 6: Kings, Warriors, Timberwolves, Thunder and Spurs.

The tournament will start with group play, which will match each team with the other four in its grouping. Those games will take place on Nov. 3, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24 and 28.

The winner of each group will advance to a knockout round, joined by the team with the best record in each conference among those who didn’t win a group. Quarterfinal games will be played Dec. 4 and 5, hosted by the higher-seeded teams. The four winners in that round will move on to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the Dec. 7 semifinals and the Dec. 9 championship game.

Bontemps points out that all teams will play within their conference until the last game, which guarantees an East vs. West matchup, just like the NBA Finals.

“Everybody’s not going to buy in right away,” admitted Joe Dumars, the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations. “So that can’t be the goal that everybody’s going to buy in from day one. These things take time. And I think, as time goes on, I think you can build this up and people can really get into it.”

The championship trophy will be called the NBA Cup, and players will receive $500K each for winning it. Other prize money includes $200K for second place, $100K for losing in the semifinals and $50K for losing in the quarterfinals. The league opted not to provide other incentives, such as a guaranteed playoff spot, for the tournament winner.

We passed along more details on the in-season tournament right here.

Contract Details: Poeltl, Strus, Love, Robinson, Walsh, R. Lopez

July 7th, 2023 at 7:25pm CST by Luke Adams

Jakob Poeltl‘s four-year contract with the Raptors has a flat base value of $19.5MM per year, for a total of $78MM, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. There are $500K in annual incentives currently considered unlikely to be earned — if Poeltl maxes out those bonuses, it’ll be worth $80MM. As previously reported, the fourth year is a player option.

Murphy adds that Jalen McDaniels‘ two-year deal is, as expected, worth the full amount of the bi-annual exception and is fully guaranteed, with no options on the second year.

Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts that Hoops Rumors can confirm:

Max Strus‘ four-year contract with the Cavaliers, which has a total value of $62.3MM, has a first-year salary of $14,487,684. That means the trade exception created by the Heat in the sign-and-trade deal is worth $7,243,842, half of Strus’ salary, due to base year compensation rules.
Kevin Love‘s two-year deal with the Heat is worth the full Non-Bird amount — $3.84MM in year one and $4.03MM in year two (with a player option). That represents 120% of his minimum salary.
Orlando Robinson‘s two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Heat is only partially guaranteed for $75K in 2023/24. That guarantee will increase to $425K if he remains under contract through the start of the regular season and to $850K if he’s not waived on or before December 1. Because Robinson’s current guarantee is only $75K, he’d be eligible for a two-way deal if he’s waived before the regular season.
Jordan Walsh‘s four-year deal with the Celtics is worth the minimum in all four seasons. It’s fully guaranteed in the first two years, with a $200K partial guarantee in year three.
Robin Lopez‘s minimum-salary contract with the Bucks is for one year.
We’re continuing to update our free agent tracker and our list of draft pick signings with contract details as we learn them.

And-Ones: Howard, Team USA, F. Jackson, Zikarsky

July 7th, 2023 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Longtime NBA center Dwight Howard was out of the league during the 2022/23 season, which he spent in Taiwan. However, he still believes he can be a productive player in an NBA rotation, he said during a wide-ranging interview with Zion Olojede of Complex.com.

“I know that there’s at least 15 to 20 teams that I could play for,” Howard said. “And I know there’s teams that got great starting centers, but I know I could be a great backup center. I know I can provide a team with 25 minutes of dominant basketball. And that’s not even scoring, that’s just playing defense, locking people up, protecting the paint, rebounding, and finishing around the basket. I’ve had my fun in the game. I just want to go out like a champ like I’m supposed to.”

Referencing a June interview in which Howard said he’d love to join the Kings, Olojede asked the three-time Defensive Player of the Year which five teams he believes would be good matches for him.

“Okay, you got Miami Heat. You got obviously, the Lakers. The Warriors,” Howard said. “The Kings. But the Kings, I would say the Kings got a couple centers so they probably wouldn’t. But the Kings. The Hawks. I’m from Atlanta, go back home with the Hawks.”

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Discussing his roster for the upcoming FIBA World Cup for the first time on Friday, Team USA head coach Steve Kerr said he plans to lean heavily on Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and Nets forward Mikal Bridges. As Joe Vardon of The Athletic writes, Kerr envisions Brunson having “a pretty big role” and intends to rely on Bridges defensively to match up against opponents’ high-scoring wings.
Veteran NBA guard Frank Jackson, who had a brief stint with the Jazz this past season, will continue his career overseas, having signed a deal with French team ASVEL, per a press release. Jackson had appeared in 214 career regular season NBA games since being drafted in 2017.
Rocco Zikarsky, a 7’3″ Australian big man, has decided to forgo a move to the NCAA in favor of joining the Brisbane Bullets as part of the National Basketball League’s Next Stars program, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN. Zikarsky, who will turn 17 next week, won’t be draft-eligible until at least 2025, but is considered one of the world’s best basketball prospects, per Givony.
John Hollinger of The Athletic doesn’t want to go so far as to call them the “losers” of free agency, but has questions about the offseason moves made so far by the Raptors, Pelicans, Kings, Trail Blazers, and Nuggets.

Rockets Sign Fred VanVleet To Three-Year Contract

July 7th, 2023 at 1:10pm CST by Luke Adams

JULY 7: The Rockets have officially signed VanVleet, the team announced today in a press release.

As previously noted, VanVleet’s three-year deal includes a third-year team option.

JUNE 30: Fred VanVleet is leaving Toronto, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter links), who hears from agents Rich Paul and Erika Ruiz that the free agent point guard will join the Rockets on a three-year, maximum-salary contract.

The No. 2 player on our list of 2023’s top 50 free agents, VanVleet is the first free agent to land a max deal this summer, Wojnarowski notes. The agreement will pay him a total of $128.5MM across three seasons, including a starting salary of $40.8MM in 2023/24, which will eat up a huge chunk of Houston’s cap room.

It’s a massive payday for VanVleet, who began his NBA career in 2016 as an undrafted free agent on a minimum-salary contract. Over the course of seven seasons in Toronto, he evolved from little-used reserve to key rotation member on a championship team to All-Star starting point guard.

The former Wichita State standout signed a four-year, $85MM contract during his last foray into free agency in 2020, but opted out of that deal after the third year in order to secure an even larger payday.

VanVleet is coming off a down season, having made a career-worst 34.2% of his three-point attempts in 2022/23 as his defense also took a step back. However, it appears the Rockets are willing to chalk up his struggles to nagging injuries and bad luck rather than assuming it’s the beginning of a downward trend. The 6’1″ guard has never been a great finisher around the rim, but he was a career 38.2% three-point shooter prior to last season and has been an asset on defense in the past.

The Rockets had more cap room (approximately $64MM) than any other team in the NBA entering free agency, putting them in position to aggressively pursue their preferred targets. While James Harden was mentioned earlier in the year as a candidate to return to Houston, VanVleet had clearly become the team’s top point guard target in the days leading up to free agency.

With the Raptors doing their best to bring back VanVleet, the Rockets apparently had to tack on an extra season to the two-year, maximum-salary offer they were said to be preparing for the 29-year-old in order to secure his commitment. Even with $40MM earmarked for VanVleet, Houston still has about $25MM in cap room available to continue making moves.

Meanwhile, it’s unclear how the Raptors intend to address their suddenly gaping hole at point guard. The club had spent the last year or two seeking a reliable backup for VanVleet and will now have to find a new starter too.

[UPDATE: Raptors to sign Dennis Schröder]

As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Toronto could try to work out a sign-and-trade with Houston to generate a huge trade exception. However, there’s no reason for the Rockets to agree to that unless they’re incentivized to do so, so the Raptors would probably have to give up a second-round pick or two to make it happen.

Scotto’s Latest: Beasley, Bucks, Plumlee, Spurs, McDaniels, McLemore

July 6th, 2023 at 1:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Before he agreed to join the Bucks on a minimum-salary deal, free agent swingman Malik Beasley received interest from several teams, including the Mavericks, writes Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. According to Scotto, Dallas considered the possibility of acquiring Beasley from the Lakers via sign-and-trade, but it didn’t work out.

New Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin was a factor in getting Beasley to Milwaukee, having spoken to the veteran wing during the team’s recruiting pitch, sources tell Scotto.

The Bucks currently have 12 players pencil in for standard contracts in 2023/24. Scotto hears that Thanasis Antetokounmpo and No. 36 pick Andre Jackson are candidates to end up on the 15-man roster. The team also needs to decide what type of contract No. 58 pick Chris Livingston will sign, Scotto notes. Currently, Lindell Wigginton and Omari Moore are on two-way contracts with Milwaukee, leaving one open two-way slot.

Here’s more from Scotto:

Veteran center Mason Plumlee drew interest in free agency from a number of playoff teams, including the Warriors and Hawks, before deciding to remain with the Clippers, league sources tell Scotto.
The Spurs, having already agreed to get involved in deals that will land them Cedi Osman, Lamar Stevens, and Reggie Bullock, remain open to taking on unwanted contracts in order to add more draft assets, reports Scotto.
Before signing forward Jalen McDaniels as a free agent, the Raptors tried to trade for him multiple times, including at the 2023 deadline, according to Scotto, who says Toronto has been closely monitoring McDaniels since he was at San Diego State.
Veteran guard Ben McLemore, who was out of the NBA last season, will work out for multiple NBA teams during the Las Vegas Summer League, per Scotto. McLemore played in China last season after averaging 10.2 PPG in 64 games for Portland in 2021/22.
In case you missed it, we also rounded up several Knicks-related rumors from Scotto.