The most important offseason in Toronto Raptors history is coming up this summer. With so much up in the air, we answered your biggest questions in this week’s mailbag.
Typically, when a team wins the NBA title, the following offseason is very quiet. They maintain the current roster, make a few moves around the margins, and have very little drama. The Toronto Raptors offseason, will not follow that blueprint.
It’s possible Toronto will have a similar roster next season. However, at the moment, they face a thousand different permutations that can swing from NBA Finals Favorite to a significant rebuild. This offseason is the most important in franchise history.
With such an eventful summer upcoming, we went to Twitter and took your best questions, in this week’s mailbag:
Steve (@SteveDoherty3) asks: Will Kawhi stay or go?
Thank you for this question. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if anyone would ask about Kawhi Leonard, so it’s nice to see such an outside the box question.
In all seriousness, I — like everyone else — don’t know at this time. Kawhi certainly came to Toronto with the mindset that it would be a one-and-done season, but after a year up north, the Raptors have at least closed the gap. Not to sound cliché, but it does feel largely like a 50/50 chance at this point.
If Kawhi wants to move to Los Angeles, he is a free-agent and certainly should exercise that option. LA seems like a lovely place to live, and likely would be even better if you’re filthy rich. It’s no secret, Leonard would like to move to Southern California at some point.
However, the Raptors did everything right this season. They’re the best basketball situation of potential destinations and have at least made the decision difficult if nothing else.
We the Lowry (@4everRaptor) asks: How much should we be willing to pay Danny Green and for how many years? Would he take a 1 year 12-15 million dollar deal to stay a Raptor?
I’d be shocked if Toronto offers any contract longer than one year. The Raptors have been meticulous about keeping their books clean past this season, and seem to be in the free-agent market for 2020. Green hampers their ability to go out and spend that summer.
It’s always hard to judge how much a player values security vs. dollars per year, but I would suspect, Toronto could bring Green back on a one-year deal if the dollar amount is large enough.
From a logistical perspective, the Raptors CAN pay Green whatever they want, so whether they keep him is strictly up to how much luxury tax they’re willing to pay. Considering the market and amount of teams looking for 3-and-D shooters, I’d guess it’s something similar to what you suggested. One year $10-$15 million.
Nate Friesen (@natefriesenn) asks: Feels like just running it back isn’t enough to repeat. What other offseason moves do the raps need to make?
I’d caveat by saying running it back could be enough, but largely agree Toronto has some work to do this offseason. Marc Gasol, Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka, and Danny Green are all on the wrong side of the aging curve, and while you can expect reasonable growth from a couple of players, you probably won’t see anything like you got from Pascal Siakam last year.
The problem with shaking things up is the Raptors don’t have any quick fixes to their roster. They have decent depth and there are no glaring weaknesses. There isn’t low-hanging fruit to quickly grab in free-agency or on the trade market (think of a backup center for Philly).
If they want to improve their team, it will likely need to be something significant. Could Toronto look to go all-in and add another All-Star quality piece to the roster? It seems unlikely, but I wouldn’t rule it out.
Johnny Crooks (Direct Message) asks: What free agents can Toronto add this offseason? Will they make any big moves?
Let’s move forward with this question assuming Kawhi re-signs. If he doesn’t Toronto will likely be sitting free-agency out, taking a step back, and re-tooling for 2020-2021 at the minimum.
Considering their cap situation, Toronto will be limited to the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception or $5.7 million to work with. Even though it is available, I wouldn’t expect the Raptors to use the MLE, unless Danny Green walks. If he does, look for the Raptors to scramble for perimeter defense and three-point shooting, in an effort to replace the departed veteran.
Don’t expect any additions this free-agency, the best case scenario is probably the Raptors maintaining what they’ve already built.