Raptors sort out their roster moves with promotions to internal talent

Over the weekend, teams across the league quickly worked on finalizing their rosters for the remainder of the season by waiving unused talents and picking up players left on the open market for either long-term or two-way deals.

It was only a matter of time before the team up north, the Toronto Raptors, joined the fray by determining which talents would fill their open roster spots. As Raptors fans have become accustomed to, the franchise has once again looked within by rewarding two members of its internal roster with promotions: center Orlando Robinson and wing Jared Rhoden.

Raptors promote Orlando Robinson and Jared Rhoden from within

After Toronto waived non-reporting veteran PJ Tucker last week, it seemed imminent that one of the Raptors' two-way players would be converted to a standard NBA contract, much like sharpshooting rookie Jamison Battle was rewarded not too long ago.

Thus, it would come as no surprise that the Raptors opted to sign promising two-way big Orlando Robinson with a rest-of-season deal, given his strong play of late in the midst of Toronto's weakened center depth. In 17 appearances for the Raptors this season, Robinson is averaging a solid 5.5 points on 44.3% shooting from the field, along with 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists, in just over 15 minutes of action per game.

Taking over Robinson's two-way spot is 905 player Jared Rhoden, who signed a 10-day contract with the team in late February. Unfortunately for Rhoden, he hasn't quite carved out a role with the Raptors thus far, and it doesn’t seem likely that he'll become a major player for the rest of this season. Blake Murphy of Sportsnet also noted on X that Rhoden is only allowed to be active for 12 NBA games, according to the rules of two-way deals.

Perhaps Rhoden can get some luck in this final campaign for Toronto, as they likely want to shoot up the Eastern Conference rankings to secure a higher draft pick. However, I wouldn't hold out much hope given the Raptors' strong wing depth.

With these two moves completed, the Toronto Raptors still have one open roster spot, which they'll likely address in the coming days. The team can sign a player to a 10-day deal, then decide to convert them to a rest-of-season contract to fill that role. Who might that player be? That remains to be seen, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Raptors once again look to their 905 roster for answers.