The Toronto Raptors are doing a great job setting themselves up for the future and the present. The Kawhi Leonard trade, if it ever goes through, will help them win now. And guys like Scottie Barnes, Collin Murray-Boyles, Allen Graves, and Jamal Shead could help lead them into the future. But in the case of that last name, they need to keep him on board.
Shead will be a restricted free agent next summer. As the Detroit Pistons know well, that’s not always a simple reality to deal with. They are still negotiating with Jalen Duren, and it doesn’t seem like it will end anytime soon. It’s on a much larger scale than what the Raptors and Shead would go through, but it’s certainly an example.
Toronto needs to ensure that its negotiations with Shead don’t get ugly like Detroit’s with Duren have this summer. He’s a big part of their future.
Raptors need to avoid ugly RFA situation with Jamal Shead
Shead should be primed for a leap in the coming years. He took a leap in minutes next season, and in the Raptors’ seven-game first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, his minutes jumped up to 32.0 minutes per game.
That’s a clear indicator of just how much Darko Rajakovic trusts him. He wants Shead on the floor. His defense and ball-handling are crucial to the Raptors’ success, and Rajakovic knows that.
The 24-year-old is clearly a big part of what the Raptors want to do moving forward, so keeping him around past next season will be essential. They cannot mess up the impending negotiations.
Duren wanted a ton of money. A ton of money. He probably wanted a max contract from the Pistons, but they clearly didn’t want to give it to him. So, the two sides are still negotiating.
After weeks of rumors that Duren could sign an offer sheet with another team – and that he wanted to potentially leave Detroit – it seems like neither side is too pleased at the moment.
That cannot happen with Shead. The Raptors need to ensure that their relationship with him stays in a good place. He’s too important to the team’s success.
To be honest, there’s a chance that Toronto could use him as a starter as soon as next season. He started in four of the Raptors’ seven playoff games, and it doesn’t seem all that unlikely that he could make a run at Immanuel Quickley’s starting gig.
The Raptors need to extend him. They need to keep him on board. And they cannot risk a situation anywhere close to the one Duren and the Pistons are dealing with.
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