Best free-agent fits for the Toronto Raptors after the NBA Draft

Jalen Smith, Stretch Big

The one area that the Toronto Raptors truly did not address in the 2024 NBA Draft was center; they used the 57th pick in the draft on Ulrich Chomche, an extreme project big man out of NBA Africa and Cameroon, but he is two years away from being two years away. They passed on bigs like Yves Missi and DaRon Holmes with the 19th pick, instead taking a wing in Ja'Kobe Walter, and on Kyle Filipowski to take energy forward Jonathan Mogbo at 31.

That leaves Jakob Poeltl as the only true center on the roster, with Kelly Olynyk and Chris Boucher in the mix; the team did not have much success with Olynyk at center last season and may see him as more of a power forward, leaving a hole at both backup center and for a stretch big who can play the 5 alongside Scottie Barnes.

Jalen Smith is a free agent who could fit that bill, a big man who rehabilitated his value with the Indiana Pacers after looking like a draft bust in Phoenix and having his third-year team option declined. Smith hit 42.4 percent of his 3-pointers last season and looks comfortable taking them, while despite being relatively thin he also has the strength and size at 6'10" to fight inside and performs well as a rebounder.

The former Maryland big man is just 24 years old after completing his fourth year in the league and still has runway to grow, and he declined a player option to hit the open market. The Raptors can offer a defined role and could hand him a contract for half of the MLE or so (around $6 or 7 million) to bring him in.

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