Why Bismack Biyombo Won’t Return to the Raptors
We look at the factors, financial and otherwise, which Bismack Biyombo will consider this off-season before re-upping with the Raptors.
The 2016 Playoffs contained quite a few storylines for the Toronto Raptors.
- The team managed to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history
- Head coach Dwane Casey proved his critics wrong by earning a new four-year contract as he spearheaded the organization’s success
- The sensational rise of Bismack Biyombo into a key contributor. Biyombo up until this point had yet to evolve into the defensive phenomenon that he was built up to be coming into the 2011 NBA Draft. However, his performances in the playoffs when standing in for the injured Jonas Valanciunas has attracted much attention around the league.
It’s no surprise that the Congolese center opted out of his current deal. He was due to make only $2.9million for next year, a small amount when taking into consideration the talk of his value falling in the $15-$17million area. Despite Biyombo’s comments in the wake of the series-ending defeat to the Cavaliers a fortnight ago, where he stated his desire to remain in Toronto, it’s unlikely that he would be willing to take a pay cut of $10million to do so.
Should the Raptors prioritise DeMar DeRozan, who is also a free agent this summer, over Biyombo, they would only be able to offer the 23-year-old the team’s MLE (mid-level exception) of about $5.6million, according to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star. For a player who may even be fielding max contract offers by the time free agency comes around, the Raptors shouldn’t hold their breath on Biyombo accepting their seven figure offer.
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For Toronto’s front office, the decision comes down to whether they’d rather have Jonas Valanciunas or Biyombo as their starting center. Valanciunas is signed to a 4 year/ $64million deal that comes into effect this summer with general manager Masai Ujiri unlikely to be keen on devoting the majority of his cap space to a single position on the court. A similar deal for Biyombo would leave the Raptors with over $30million being spent on their centers. With Toronto in desperate need for a power forward and DeRozan’s impending free agency, it’s highly unlikely that the Raptors can afford to keep Biyombo.
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The lure of a starting position at another organization may be too much to resist for Biyombo as well. The presence of Valanciunas, and his ever-improving ability on both sides of the court, would limit Biyombo’s minutes. With neither player able to play the 4 spot, it’s difficult to figure out how both players would receive the minutes their play deserves.
For Biyombo, the promise of becoming a starter while receiving a max contract seems like too good an offer to turn down, especially when the alternative would be a limited role on the bench and a much smaller pay packet. It looks as if the two deal breakers that Biyombo would expect from any franchise he speaks to during free agency can’t be offered by the Raptors. Thus, we can expect to see him playing in a different uniform by the time the new season rolls around.