The NBA’s 2020 free agency period is finally over — and the 2021 free agency period is now gonna look a lot different. As first reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Giannis Antetokounmpo is signing a 5-year “supermax” contract that will keep him in Milwaukee through 2026.
Breaking: Giannis Antetokounmpo says he is signing a contract extension with the Milwaukee Bucks. The two-time MVP will sign a five-year, $228.2 million supermax extension with the franchise, the largest deal in NBA history, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA@Stadium.
The Toronto Raptors, of course, had stacked their free agency deck to have the flexibility sign Giannis next summer, and fans across Canada were hoping that, for once, the Raptors might have a true shot at luring a superstar free agent to come play north of the border.
Alas, the dream is dead.
Or is it!? While we mourn what might have been, let’s look at potential plans B, C D and consider what might still be.
Financial Flexibility is Good!
The Raptors will have space available to sign a max player next summer, but that’s not all they have. They have multiple players on reasonable short-term, or non-guaranteed, or expiring deals this season, all of which can be used as trade assets — either in their own trades or as partners in multi-team trades. Those signed this past offseason, like Fred VanVleet or Aron Baynes, can be traded as of February 6 (for non-Bird rights players like Baynes) or March 3 (for VanVleet).
They also have all of their future first round picks.
That means they can pivot to a number of different options, such as making a trade now or at the deadline, signing a different free agent next offseason, or allocating that money to their own current players.
What Are the Raptors’ Trade Options?
There is at least one unhappy superstar the Raptors could potentially trade for right now, and that’s James Harden, who wants out of Houston. If the Philadelphia 76ers aren’t willing to part with Ben Simmons, then the Raptors can surely make a better offer than any other contender, whether it includes Kyle Lowry (an expiring contract sure to appeal to Houston’s broke-ass owner) or Pascal Siakam (a star under contract just entering his prime) and some combination of picks and cap ballast.
The team could also skew young by trading Lowry elsewhere, to a contending team in need of a lead guard, in exchange for young talent and future picks — though I’m not sure such a team exists, as the Lakers, Clippers, Sixers and Bucks don’t really have the assets. Again, maybe there’s a third team involved. Either way, that’s the type of deal that could be made anytime between now and the trade deadline.
The team could also wait to see if another star player becomes unhappy this season, and make a deal at the deadline that could include VanVleet.
What About 2021 Free Agency?
If the Raptors decide to keep the team together this season and find a Plan B next summer, there are several potential targets; the most obvious one is Kawhi Leonard, who has a player option. Whether or not he executes that option presumably depends on how the Clippers do this year, although, after orchestrating such a big deal to get “home” to California in the first place, it seems unlikely he’d be eager to leave.
(Speaking of Raptors-turned-Clippers with player options, Serge Ibaka has one too. Cue the “getting the band back together” montage!?)
Other targets include Victor Oladipo, Blake Griffin, DeMar DeRozan, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Rudy Gobert. Honestly, Gobert might be the most interesting; he might cost a little less than the max, and thinking of him as a defensive backstop with a core of Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby is pretty enticing.
Can the Raptors Just Re-Sign Their Own Guys?
Giannis signing now means that OG Anunoby’s contract extension becomes an even more interesting question mark. He can sign an extension between now and Monday December 21st; if not, he’s a restricted free agent next summer.
The reason this matters is Anunoby’s cap hold. If he doesn’t sign that extension, it sits at about $11 million next summer, whereas if he signs now, it becomes whatever he signs for, be it $15 million or $18 million or whatever.
This doesn’t mean OG won’t get paid. The Raptors want to keep him and will pay him regardless — it’s just the timing that matters, from their point of view. Signing him now reduces their flexibility next summer.
As for the rest of their guys, they can guarantee the contracts of players like Baynes, Alex Len and Chris Boucher next summer if they want, or re-sign Norman Powell if he opts out, or re-sign Kyle Lowry using his Bird rights.
Wait, What Does This Mean for Kyle Lowry!?
Kyle is an unrestricted free agent next summer regardless; they can’t sign him to an extension now. But they’ll control his Bird rights and could sign him to another deal in the offseason, if they choose not to sign a max player.
Note that the Raptors can’t sign a max contract player and then sign Lowry to a contract using his Bird rights; his cap hold is $43 million, meaning they’d have to renounce him to have that max cap space available.
If it seems no max player is coming, the Raptors could sign Lowry to a nice deal and then sign another, non-max player. Or, they could simply give Lowry the “we take care of own” deal, like the Lakers did with Kobe Bryant, and offer Lowry a golden parachute that lets him retire a well-paid Raptor.
I don’t see that one happening.
There’s One Other Free Agent Looming: Masai Ujiri
Raptors team president Masai Ujiri is now entering the last year of his current contract, and hasn’t signed an extension. In his time here, he’s transformed the once-lame Raptors into a perennial winner, brought an All-Star game to Toronto and won an NBA title. There’s really only one thing he hasn’t done…
Sign a marquee free agent.
With Giannis unavailable, and Leonard now the only potential MVP-level free agent next summer, it seems unlikely that it’s going to happen in 2021. The question is whether or not it means it’s more likely Masai re-signs (to try again) or bolts (to go somewhere else where attracting talent is perhaps easier, or simply another gig altogether).
If we believe the Michael Grange piece from a few weeks back, Ujiri thrives on challenges, and on having the support around him to overcome those challenges. I have to believe that, if MLSE is still committed to building a winner and giving him the resources he needs to do it, he’ll stick around and keep working towards keeping the Raptors near the top of the NBA — and working to check that free agent signing off his list.
Will the Raptors Ever Sign a Big-time Free Agent?
Honestly, I don’t think Ujiri ever will get to check that off. It hasn’t happened in 25 years, and it probably never will. But that isn’t the end of the world.
It’s also not a knock on Toronto. Outside of the few cold big markets (New York and maybe Chicago), the only teams that attract free agents are the warm-weather and tax-friendly big cities who have owners with deep pockets. There are 20-25 NBA teams that are not that, that will always struggle to lure free agents. That just means they have to build through the draft and through smart trades and smart non-headline free agent signings, and re-sign their guys when their contacts are up.
Well, guess what? The Raptors, under Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster, have done just that. They’ve been fucking awesome at doing that. (Um, we’ll just ignore DeMarre Carroll. Everyone gets a mulligan!) It’s what the Bucks are doing too. The Spurs did it for an entire generation.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
CALGARY – Mired in their first four-game losing skid in 20 years, the Calgary Stampeders are going back to Jake Maier at quarterback on Saturday after he was benched for a game.
It won’t be an easy assignment.
Visiting McMahon Stadium are the Eastern Conference-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-2) who own the CFL’s best record. The Stampeders (4-8) have fallen to last in the Western Conference.
“Six games is plenty of time, but also it is just six games,” said Maier. “We’ve got to be able to get on the right track.”
Calgary is in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
“I do still believe in this team,” said Stampeders’ head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson. “I want to see improvement, though. I want to see guys on a weekly basis elevating their game, and we haven’t been doing that.”
Maier is one of the guys under the microscope. Two weeks ago, the second-year starter threw four interceptions in a 35-20 home loss to the Edmonton Elks.
After his replacement, rookie Logan Bonner, threw five picks in last week’s 37-16 loss to the Elks in Edmonton, the football is back in Maier’s hands.
“Any time you fail or something doesn’t go your way in life, does it stink in the moment? Yeah. But then the days go on and you learn things about yourself and you learn how to prepare a little bit better,” said Maier. “It makes you mentally tougher.”
Dickenson wants to see his quarterback making better decisions with the football.
“Things are going to happen, interceptions will happen, but try to take calculated risks, rather than just putting the ball up there and hoping that we catch it,” said Dickenson.
A former quarterback himself, he knows the importance of that vital position.
“You cannot win without good quarterback play,” Dickenson said. “You’ve got to be able to make some plays — off-schedule plays, move-around plays, plays that break down, plays that aren’t designed perfectly, but somehow you found the right guy, and then those big throws where you’re taking that hit.”
But it’s going to take a team effort, and that includes the club’s receiving corp.
“We always have to band together because we need everything to go right for our receivers to get the ball,” said Nik Lewis, the Stampeders’ receivers coach. “The running back has to pick up the blitz, the o-line has to block, the quarterback has to make the right reads, and then give us a catchable ball.”
Lewis brings a unique perspective to this season’s frustrations as he was a 22-year-old rookie in Calgary in 2004 when the Stamps went 4-14 under coach Matt Dunigan. They turned it around the next season and haven’t missed the playoffs since.”
“Thinking back and just looking at it, there’s just got to be an ultimate belief that you can get it done. Look at Montreal, they were 6-7 last year and they’ve gone 18-2 since then,” said Lewis.
Montreal is also looking to rebound from a 37-23 loss to the B.C. Lions last week. But for head coach Jason Maas, he says his team’s mindset doesn’t change, regardless of what happened the previous week.
“Last year when we went through a four-game losing streak, you couldn’t tell if we were on a four-game winning streak or a four-game losing streak by the way the guys were in the building, the way we prepared, the type of work ethic we have,” said Maas. “All our standards are set, so that’s all we focus on.”
While they may have already clinched a playoff spot, Alouettes’ quarterback Cody Fajardo says this closing stretch remains critical because they want to finish the season strong, just like last year when they won their final five regular-season games before ultimately winning the Grey Cup.
“It doesn’t matter about what you do at the beginning of the year,” said Fajardo. “All that matters is how you end the year and how well you’re playing going into the playoffs so that’s what these games are about.”
The Alouettes’ are kicking off a three-game road stretch, one Fajardo looks forward to.
“You understand what kind of team you have when you play on the road because it’s us versus the world mentality and you can feel everybody against you,” said Fajardo. “Plus, I always tend to find more joy in silencing thousands of people than bringing thousands of people to their feet.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
