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Toronto Raptors: Ranking every contract from best to worst

By Vimal Sivakumar

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA - 2017/09/22: The entrance of the Air Canada Centre. There is sunlight reflecting from the glass. The famous place will be renamed starting on January 2018. (Photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA - 2017/09/22: The entrance of the Air Canada Centre. There is sunlight reflecting from the glass. The famous place will be renamed starting on January 2018. (Photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – APRIL 14: C.J. Miles
TORONTO, ON – APRIL 14: C.J. Miles /

5. CJ Miles

Contract: 1 year + 1 (Player Option) — $8.3M (18/19), $8.7M (19/20)

This season, C.J. Miles averaged 10 points per game (PPG) while shooting 36.1% from three and playing 19.1 minutes per contest.

$8 million dollars is significant money, there’s no two ways about it. However, while $8M seems unjustifiable for a mere 10 PPG scorer, Miles has always been a “spark plug” type player.

When he’s on, he’s on and when he’s cold, he’s cold. That is normal for players like CJ Miles, who are simply supposed to provide a scoring punch off the bench.

Also, to be fair to Miles, no one expected the emergence of OG Anunoby this quickly. While this doesn’t excuse his weak production, stats typically decrease with less minutes, meaning Miles suffered slightly from Anunoby’s success

Why below Poeltl

With an average NBA salary of $5.7M in 2017/18 (according to basketball-reference.com), the C.J. Miles contract is a bearable one.

This is especially true because, when Miles is on his game, he has proven capable of playing very well –  shooting over 42% from 3 point range during a 26 game stretch during the 2017/18 regular season.

Also, unlike other players on this list, it is not guaranteed that Miles would accept his 2019/20 player option. If Miles did decline, his contract would become even better for Toronto, simply by freeing up $8.7 million dollars.

Again, in today’s NBA, $8 million dollars is only $3 million above the average NBA salary.

That said, shooters like Miles can still command a decent salary around the league.

With similar shooters like Marco Belinelli (37.7% from 3 on 5.3 3PA in 2017/18) and Danny Green (36.3% from 3 on 5.3 3PA in 2017/18) making $6.3 million and $10 million last season respectively, Miles might seek opportunities elsewhere for a larger role and more minutes to play.

Moreover, since Miles is already 31, he could just take less money to play for a (better) contender than Toronto. Essentially, Miles could just opt to become a Kyle Korver type scorer for a team like Houston, Boston or Cleveland.

In other words, many things can happen with CJ Miles’ contract at the end of next season. Regardless, whether he stays or moves on from Toronto, his contract is neither a great deal nor a terrible one. For that reason, ultimately, Miles has been placed right in the middle of these rankings.

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