3 aging veteran free agents Raptors could sign on short-term deal

The Toronto Raptors were a very young team in 2021-22, as Goran Dragic and Thad Young were the only two players on the squad who were older than 30. Despite that abundance of youth, Nick Nurse was able to win 48 games and get this team to the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Toronto will likely need to get a bit older this year, as having age and experience off the bench can only be positive when the playoffs roll around. Furthermore, getting specialized vets will help a shallow bench be a bit more reliable, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

The Raptors can’t splash a ton of cash on the big names this offseason, but they should be able to make one or two of the more experienced free agents out there while still retaining top talent. All Masai Ujiri needs to do is be proactive in showing Toronto’s interest in these greybeards.

If age does indeed come before beauty (or youth, for the sake of belaboring this metaphor), these three veterans could end up in Toronto should Ujiri take an interest in them. They don’t need to be world-beaters, but they could quickly become star role players.

3 veteran free agents the Toronto Raptors could sign.

3. Joe Ingles, Portland Trail Blazers

Signing a player who will be 35 and coming off of a severe ACL injury might be a path that most executives would advise against going down, but Ingles could be an ideal complementary player for Toronto in the proper role. The injury is what it is, but the former Jazz sniper remains an elite shooter.

Even when you take into account last year’s outlier, Ingles is a career 41% 3-point shooter. While he isn’t going to defend like Scottie Pippen on his best day, Ungles’ shooting as both a starter and bench player helped the Jazz consistently end up in the playoffs.

Joe Ingles’ shooting could appeal to the Toronto Raptors.

Compared to Svi Mykhailiuk, Ingles is a worse defender and a smaller player with more physical questions. However, while Mykhailiuk failed to establish himself as an elite shooter, Ingles was able to prove that he is truly special in that area throughout the last half-decade.

Ingles will be a major injection of life on a Raptors team that had to work tirelessly to overcome their shooting problems last year. A short one-year deal could be all that is required to get Ingles in red and black, as it could mitigate against his injury flaring up.