No. 7: Ochai Agbaji is on a good contract
Scottie Barnes is an incredible value on his current deal, and Gradey Dick looks ready to provide surplus value as early as next season. The Raptors have one other player on his rookie-scale contract, but his value is a bit more difficult to parse out.
Ochai Agbaji won a national championship with the Kansas Jayhawks in 2022 and was subsequently drafted 14th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Two months later he was a part of the Donovan Mitchell trade and played his first season-and-a-half with the Utah Jazz, who then included him with Kelly Olynyk in the February deal that landed him in Toronto.
That's a lot of movement for a lottery pick, which in some part highlights Agbaji's inconsistency as a young player. After hitting 40.7 percent of his 3-pointers in his final college season, Agbaji shot just 35.5 percent from deep as a rookie and a painfully low 29.4 percent this past year. His shot creation has also not come along, and 100 percent of his 3-pointers with the Raptors were assisted.
Agbaji will play the third season of his rookie contract next season, and the Raptors have until October to decide if they want to pick up the fourth year for 2025-26. The contract is for a total of $18.72 million, an average of just $4.6 million, which is a great value for a swing at a long-term 3-and-D player.
The Raptors will likely send Agbaji to Summer League and hope that a full offseaosn in their system and playing alongside a healthy team next season helps him to develop. Right now his contract is a good one given the upside, but at some point the upside dries up and it simply becomes millions committed to a non-NBA player.