The 3 most underpaid Toronto Raptors entering next season
The Toronto Raptors have a fairly massive team-building problem.
The way that teams build a contender is twofold: have a superstar, and have a roster where as many players as possible outperform their paycheck. Especially in the age of the second apron where teams are handcuffed if they grow too expensive, finding that excess value is essential to building and maintaining a great team.
The Raptors are expensive and set to grow more so in the next couple of years, with no real path to financial freedom. We wrote on the 3 most overpaid players on the roster and could have written on a few more. Between Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Jakob Poeltl the Raptors are paying four players $100 million from a team that went 25-57 last year, and none of them have ever sniffed an All-Star team.
On the flip side, do the Raptors have a lot of surplus value on the team? It was much harder to find three players who are underpaid, and there is only one player who is a massive bargain on his 2024-25 salary. Let's look at those three players the team is counting on to come through and outperform their paychecks for next season.
No. 3: Jamal Shead
Jamal Shead has done absolutely nothing in the NBA. He is a 22-year-old rookie picked with the 45th pick in the draft. How could he possibly show up on this list?
The answer is that Shead has the potential to be an impactful player from day one. He is an experienced rookie, playing 3,789 minutes in his college career, including at least 1150 in each of the last three seasons. He was the defensive player of the year in the Big 12 and an All-American last year as the best player on one of the best teams in the nation.
Shead is not a knockdown shooter, but he is a capable ball-handler and playmaker, and his defense, motor and instincts should translate from day one. If he wins the backup point guard spot and is a part of an NBA rotation from day one, making just $1.8 million (1.3% of the cap) he'll be a bargain, one that will only grow over the next few seasons.