TORONTO – Newcomers Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji check off a bunch of important boxes for the Toronto Raptors.
Agbaji was a four-year college player and helped lead Kansas to a national championship as a senior – a couple of things that Toronto’s front office has always valued highly. He’s got the prospect pedigree as a former lottery pick, the 14th-overall selection in 2022.
His dimensions are pretty Raptorsy, as well. He’s 6-foot-5, not 6-8 or 6-9, but he does have a 6-foot-10 wingspan and isn’t lacking for athleticism or two-way upside. His jumper isn’t a reliable weapon yet, he’s knocked down just 33 per cent of his three-point attempts in his second NBA campaign, but there’s reason to believe it can become one with time, reps and work. He’s an 80 per cent career free throw shooter, who improved his three-point percentage in each of his four years at Kansas (shooting 41 per cent on 6.5 attempts as a senior) and is hitting 42 per cent of his attempts from the corners this season.
Agbaji’s a high-motor player and, by all accounts, a high-character guy who fits the organizational culture, and at 23 – less than 16 months older than Scottie Barnes – he’s also in the right age group.
Olynyk will turn 33 before the end of season, but the Raptors view him as the perfect veteran complement to Barnes and their young core. Growing up as a point guard before hitting his growth spurt – and playing quarterback in high school – the 11-year NBA vet is uniquely skilled for a big man. He can handle the ball, pass and shoot – he hit a career-best 43 per cent of his three-point attempts with the Utah Jazz this season. It shouldn’t take him long to become a favourite of head coach Darko Rajakovic.
And while the Raptors didn’t target him specifically for his passport, his Canadian roots and years of service with the national team certainly don’t hurt.
But not to be overlooked is that both guys wanted to play in Toronto. It’s not the only reason why Olynyk and Agbaji were acquired from Utah for Otto Porter Jr., Kira Lewis Jr., and a late first-round pick in the maligned 2024 draft a few hours before Thursday’s trade deadline. It also wasn’t the biggest reason. However, it is a factor that Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster are considering and valuing more than ever before as they navigate the early stages of a rebuild, or as Webster called it, a “multi-year process.”
“I talked to both of them [after the trade] by phone, and that was my feel right away,” Rajakovic said. “They were really upbeat and very excited to join our team. They like what we’re developing here with the young roster, with players in their 20s. That’s a great fit for Ochai. I think for Kelly, coming back home is a big part of him being happy, enjoying our team. I think it’s very important because they want to be here, we want them to be here, and it just gives us continuity for us to start building something really special.”
Naturally, it’s easier to draw a straight line to Olynyk, who was born in Toronto and raised in nearby Scarborough before moving to Kamloops, B.C. as a teenager. His father, Ken, a long-time head coach at the University of Toronto, spent one season as a second-row assistant on Lenny Wilkens’ Raptors staff when Olynyk was 10 years old. His mother, Arlene, was the team’s first ever scorekeeper.
“It’s a full circle moment,” said Olynyk, wearing a big smile on his face and a Raptors logo across his chest just a few hours after arriving in Toronto and joining his new club. “It’s really cool to look back at your life and everything that you’ve done up until now, and how monumental the Raptors have been in my life… Just being in the driveway pretending you’re a Raptor growing up. I used to fall asleep at night with a little alarm clock radio listening to the FAN590 and Chuck Swirsky. So to be putting on this jersey, these shirts and hats and stuff, it’s something that you can’t even put into words.”
Olynyk had heard his name tied to a number of different teams going into Thursday’s trade deadline. Most were contenders looking for that missing piece to help put them over the top. The Raptors, as Olynyk put it, “came out of nowhere.” They’ve had mutual interest before. He’s admired the franchise from afar, and they’ve needed a versatile floor-spacing big man for a while. It almost felt inevitable.
“It’s always been on our radar, both of our radars,” he said. “I think maybe it’s been close [before], but it’s hard for me to know [for sure]… But [now that] it did happen, it’s pretty awesome.”
Agbaji also has a long-time Raptors connection: the team president. An old friend of his father Olofu, who hails from Nigeria, Ujiri has known Agbaji since he was in high school. As such, Toronto kept tabs on him throughout his collegiate career and into his NBA career, but didn’t have a first-round pick in his draft year. Ujiri called Agbaji after trading for him on Thursday. The first thing he said: “You’re with family now.”
“He’s really close with my dad, they grew up together,” Agbaji said. “Having those relationships before being on the team and knowing him was good. Now, being here, he’s right, it’s like being with family.”
Agbaji was able to crack Will Hardy’s rotation midway through his rookie season with the Jazz and has been playing regularly – around 20 minutes a night – ever since, which is no easy feat. Agbaji was sent to Utah in the Donovan Mitchell trade a few months after he was drafted, and shortly after Rudy Gobert was dealt to Minnesota. The roster was young, but very deep and competitive.
With Toronto, the sense is that he’ll have the chance to earn an even bigger role playing for a team that isn’t quite as deep or as far along in the rebuilding process.
“Ever since I got that phone call yesterday, I feel like it’s a fresh new start,” Agbaji said. “I really feel like there’s another part to my game that I can show. Just talking to Darko, I feel like he knows that too, and Masai understands that. So really, it’s all about opportunity, and I feel like I have a good opportunity here to show that.”
Agbaji still has a couple seasons of team control left on his rookie contract, and while Olynyk’s deal is expiring, the Raptors view both players as long-term pieces. No, Olynyk isn’t going to help a team make a playoff push this season, as he would’ve had he joined the Philadelphia 67ers, Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors, or any of the other teams that expressed interest in him ahead of the deadline. He’s had to adjust his expectations and come to terms with that over the past 48 hours or so. That he ended up in Toronto has made it easier. It’s not the first time he’s played the part of veteran leader with a young, rebuilding team – he did it with the Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons and most recently in Utah. This time he’s hoping to see it through.
The Raptors want to keep him around beyond this season – it’s not hard to see them offering the veteran centre a two-year deal in free agency over the summer, or perhaps even extending him before the end of the campaign. The feeling appears to be mutual.
“I’d love to be here for the rest of my career if that plays out,” Olynyk said.
Both players are expected to fill key roles off the bench over the final 30 games of the season, and depending on what the future holds for pending free agent Gary Trent Jr., there could be an open spot in the starting lineup at Agbaji’s position next year.
The plan is to ease the new guys in as they get settled and up to speed. They didn’t clear medicals until a couple hours before Friday night’s game, a nail-biting win over a Rockets team missing former Raptor Fred VanVleet. While they were available to play, the team decided it best to hold them out, and the plan is for them to make their debuts against Cleveland on Saturday.
For both Olynyk and Agbaji, but for different reasons, it feels like this is where they’re supposed to be.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A top official of the Pakistan Cricket Board declined Friday to confirm media reports that India has decided against playing any games in host Pakistan during next year’s Champions Trophy.
“My view is if there’s any problems, they (India) should tell us in writing,” PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Lahore. “I’ll share that with the media as well as with the government as soon as I get such a letter.”
Indian media reported Friday that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has communicated its concerns to all the Champions Trophy stakeholders, including the PCB, over the Feb. 19-March 9 tournament and would not play in arch-rival Pakistan.
The Times of India said that “Dubai is a strong candidate to host the fixtures involving the Men in Blue” for the 50-over tournament.
Such a solution would see Pakistan having to travel to a neutral venue to play India in a group match, with another potential meeting later in the tournament if both teams advanced from their group. The final is scheduled for March 9 in Pakistan with the specific venue not yet decided.
“Our stance is clear,” Naqvi said. “They need to give us in writing any objections they may have. Until now, no discussion of the hybrid model has happened, nor are we prepared to accept one.”
Political tensions have stopped bilateral cricket between the two nations since 2008 and they have competed in only multi-nation tournaments, including ICC World Cups.
“Cricket should be free of politics,” Naqvi said. “Any sport should not be entangled with politics. Our preparations for the Champions Trophy will continue unabated, and this will be a successful event.”
The PCB has already spent millions of dollars on the upgrade of stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi which are due to host 15 Champions Trophy games. Naqvi hoped all the three stadiums will be ready over the next two months.
“Almost every country wants the Champions Trophy to be played here (in Pakistan),” Naqvi said. “I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter, and I don’t expect they will. I expect the tournament will be held at the home of the official hosts.”
Eight countries – Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Afghanistan – are due to compete in the tournament, the schedule of which is yet to be announced by the International Cricket Council.
“Normally the ICC announces the schedule of any major tournament 100 days before the event, and I hope they will announce it very soon,” Naqvi said.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Ottawa‘s Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand are through to the doubles final at the WTA Finals after a 7-6 (7), 6-1 victory over Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Australia’s Ellen Perez in semifinal action Friday.
Dabrowski and Routliffe won a hard-fought first set against serve when Routliffe’s quick reaction at the net to defend a Perez shot gave the duo set point, causing Perez to throw down her racket in frustration.
The second seeds then cruised through the second set, winning match point on serve when Melichar-Martinez couldn’t handle Routliffe’s shot.
The showdown was a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Melichar-Martinez and Perez won in a super tiebreak.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face the winner of a match between Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend, and Hao-Ching Chan and Veronika Kudermetova in the final on Saturday.
Dabrowski is aiming to become the first Canadian to win a WTA Finals title.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
Inter Milan winger Tajon Buchanan, recovered from a broken leg suffered in training at this summer’s Copa America, is back in Jesse Marsch’s Canada squad for the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal against Suriname.
The 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., underwent surgery July 3 to repair a fractured tibia in Texas.
Canada, ranked 35th in the world, plays No. 136 Suriname on Nov. 15 in Paramaribo. The second leg of the aggregate series is four days later at Toronto’s BMO Field.
There is also a return for veteran winger Junior Hoilett, who last played for Canada in June in a 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Marsch’s debut at the Canadian helm. The 34-year-old from Brampton, now with Scotland’s Hibernian, has 15 goals in 63 senior appearances for Canada.
Midfielder Ismael Kone, recovered from an ankle injury sustained on club duty with France’s Marseille, also returns. He missed Canada’s last three matches since the fourth-place Copa America loss to Uruguay in July.
But Canada will be without centre back Derek Cornelius, who exited Marseille’s win Sunday over Nantes on a stretcher after suffering an apparent rib injury.
The Canadian men will prepare for Suriname next week at a camp in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
“We are looking forward to getting the group together again with the mindset that there is a trophy on the line,” Marsch said in a statement. “We want to end 2024 the right way with two excellent performances against a competitive Suriname squad and continue building on our tremendous growth this past summer.”
The quarterfinal winners advance to the Nations League Finals at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., with the two semifinals scheduled for March 20 and the final and third-place playoff March 23, and qualify for the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Thirteen of the 23 players on the Canadian roster are 25 or younger, with 19-year-old defender Jamie Knight-Lebel, currently playing for England’s Crewe Alexandra on loan from Bristol City, the youngest.
Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies captains the side with Stephen Eustaquio, Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Alistair Johnston and Kamal Miller adding veteran support.
Jonathan David, Cyle Larin and Theo Bair are joined in attack by Minnesota United’s Tani Oluwaseyi.
Niko Sigur, a 21-year-old midfielder with Croatia’s Hadjuk Split, continues in the squad after making his debut in the September friendly against Mexico.
Suriname made it to the Nations League quarterfinals by finishing second to Costa Rica in Group A of the Nations League, ahead of No. 104 Guatemala, No. 161 Guyana and unranked Martinique and Guadeloupe.
“A good team,” Osorio said of Suriname. “These games are always tricky and they’re not easy at all … Suriname is a (former) Dutch colony and they’ll have Dutch players playing at high levels.”
“They won’t be someone we overlook at all,” added the Toronto FC captain, who has 81 Canada caps to his credit.
Located on the northeast coast of South America between Guyana and French Guiana, Suriname was granted independence in 1975 by the Netherlands.
Canada has faced Suriname twice before, both in World Cup qualifying play, winning 4-0 in suburban Chicago in June 2021 and 2-1 in Mexico City in October 1977.
The Canadian men, along with Mexico, the United States and Panama, received a bye into the final eight of the CONCACAF Nations League.
Canada, No. 2 in the CONCACAF rankings, drew Suriname as the best-placed runner-up from League A play.
Canada lost to Jamaica in last year’s Nations League quarterfinal, ousted on the away-goals rule after the series ended in a 4-4 draw. The Canadians lost 2-0 to the U.S. in the final of the 2022-23 tournament and finished fifth in 2019-20.
Canada defeated Panama 2-1 last time out, in an Oct. 15 friendly in Toronto.
Goalkeepers Maxime Crepeau and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Joel Waterman, Laryea and Miller and Osorio took part in a pre-camp this week in Toronto for North America-based players.
Canada Roster
Goalkeepers: Maxime Crepeau, Portland Timbers (MLS); Jonathan Sirois, CF Montreal (MLS); Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC (MLS).
Defenders: Moise Bombito, OGC Nice (France); Alphonso Davies, Bayern Munich (Germany); Richie Laryea, Toronto FC (MLS); Alistair Johnston, Celtic (Scotland); Jamie Knight-Lebel. Crewe Alexandra, on loan from Bristol City (England); Kamal Miller, Portland Timbers (MLS); Joel Waterman, CF Montreal (MLS).
Midfielders: Ali Ahmed. Vancouver Whitecaps (MLS); Tajon Buchanan, Inter Milan (Italy); Mathieu Choiniere, Grasshopper Zurich (Switzerland); Stephen Eustaquio, FC Porto (Portugal); Junior Hoilett, Hibernian FC (Scotland); Ismael Kone, Olympique Marseille (France); Jonathan Osorio, Toronto FC (MLS); Jacob Shaffelburg, Nashville SC (MLS); Niko Sigur, Hadjuk Split (Croatia).
Forwards: Theo Bair, AJ Auxerre (France); Jonathan David, LOSC Lille (France); Cyle Larin, RCD Mallorca (Spain); Tani Oluwaseyi, Minnesota United (MLS).
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
