3 Burning questions for the Raptors to answer after the draft, free agency
The Toronto Raptors have had a slow free agency, but it comes on the heels of a busy start to the offseason. From four draft picks to a multi-player trade to locking up the core long-term the front office made the most of June, even if their only move of July thus far was signing a player who may not even play.
Five days into free agency and 8 days removed from the end of the NBA Draft, what questions remain for the Raptors to answer? They have answered a few, including how they will address backup point guard and whether they will replace Jakob Poeltl in the draft, but a few still remain.
What answers will be provided for these burning questions?
No. 1: Are the Raptors done adding to the roster?
The Toronto Raptors agreed to deals with two of their second-roudn picks, Jonathan Mogbo and Jamal Shead. After bringing back Garrett Temple, that means the Raptors have 16 players under contract (including first-round pick Ja'Kobe Walter). They can waive Javon Freeman-Liberty's non-guaranteed deal to get down to 15, but don't need to do that until training camp and the leaguewide cutdown date.
Does that mean the Raptors are done adding to the roster? They sit $4.5 million under the luxury tax line and $12.5 million under the first apron, which they cannot exceed for any reason after taking back more salary than they sent out in their trade with the Sacramento Kings.
The only reason the Raptors may not be done is if Sasha Vezenkov does indeed agree to a contract buyout to return to Europe, which has been rumored but not reported by any mainline NBA reporters. They could also send out multiple players in a trade and open up a roster spot. As it stands, however, the Raptors unexpectedly have a full roster without using any of their spending power in free agency. They may just be done adding players.