As we send them off into the summer to work on their bodies and their games, a look back and a look ahead to next year for the Raptors who were on the roster when the season ended.
STARTERS
Fred VanVleet
Status: Signed through 2023-24; eligible for four-year extension this summer to kick in for 24-25.
Season: Great first half and a fully deserved all-star berth. Then a bum knee and finally a hip flexor ruined the end. But as the team’s leader and conscience, he was outstanding.
Future: He’ll find a way to improve his play — maybe finishing at the rim — but the thing VanVleet needs most is for Masai Ujiri, Bobby Webster and Nick Nurse to find a good, trustworthy backup so he doesn’t have to play as many minutes.
Gary Trent Jr.
Status: Signed through 2023-24, last season is player option.
Season: Started on fire, his defense was a revelation and fit perfectly with Toronto’s style of play. Rattling off five straight games of 30 or more points was an impressive offensive stretch and he makes more toughly contested shots than anyone on the team.
Future: He’s got to improve his catch-and-shoot skills and his best role on a true championship contender might be as a sixth man to carry a heavy scoring load for a second unit.
OG Anunoby
Status: Signed through 2024-25, last season is player option.
Season: Like his career. Fits and starts. He looked very good, missed 13 games with a hip pointer; he came back, looked very good, missed 15 games with a fractured finger. Maddeningly inconsistent.
Future: He can be a very good player — when he plays. Keeping him healthy enough to appear in 72 or 75 games will be a huge part of whether the Raptors can improve internally next season.
Scotty Barnes
Status: Signed through 2024-25, last two years are team options.
Season: Gangbusters from the start. An as-advertised defender, his offensive game was a huge plus. He had his ups and downs — sometimes in the same game — but you don’t win rookie of the year in that class without showing plenty. I did.
Future: They need more. More shooting, more bullying, smaller defenders at the rim, more consistent defensive awareness and alertness. There really is limitless potential, now it’s time to see if he’s got the consistent summer workout desire to come back a more complete player. A generational piece, if he does.
Pascal Siakam
Status: Signed through 2023-24, eligible for three-year extension to kick in for 2024-25 season.
Season: Wonderful. Recaptured his all-star form of 2019-20, his professional approach to his job impressed coaches and teammates. Not much more he could have given them.
Future: Seems to be hitting the prime of a very good career, back at an all-star level with plenty of room for shooting improvement. The extension is unlikely because he’s best to wait a year when he might be eligible for a more lucrative super-max deal.
ROTATION
Malachi Flynn
Status: One year remaining, team option of 2022-23 already exercised.
Season: I didn’t seize any opportunity and it was there. He never got to be the pesky, tough defend the Raptors needed and Nurse lost faith in him for long stretches. Will he learn from it? He’s better.
Future: Still an interesting prospect but he’s got to show the ability to consistently make shots to be able to have a significant role. He hasn’t yet but management feels the potential is there.
Dalano Banton
Status: Partially guaranteed contract for 2022-23, becomes fully guaranteed at start of regular season.
Season: A great story that started with a bang and then petered out rather quickly. But he’s a very young and intriguing player who’ll benefit from the minutes he got as a rookie.
Future: You have to find a shooting stroke because he just doesn’t have one yet. And being able to play at different paces rather than one breakneck speed is a must. He’ll be force-fed responsible for the entire summer league season.
Chris Boucher
Status: Unrestricted free agent.
Season: Once he accepted and welcomed his role — energy off the bench — he was tremendous at it. And it’s got to have shown him how he can stay in the league with a role to play.
Future: The Raptors love him, Toronto has been good for him and there’s probably not a better long-term fit for him than here. Re-signing him will be a current-roster priority for Webster.
Precious Achiuwa
Status: On rookie scale deal through 2023-24, team option for 2022-23 already exercised.
Season: Not one in the NBA improved more from the start of the season until the end than Achiuwa did. The best thing he did was figure out what he could n’t do and concentrate on his myriad skills from him.
Future: It’s unimaginable he’ll make the same giant strides this summer and next season but even with incremental improvement, he’s got a chance to be a real force for a really long time.
khem birch
Status: One year remaining.
Season: Never got any traction. Between COVID and a series of injuries he never seemed to be fully fit and available. Too bad but it seems like a one-off blip on his career.
Future: He’s got to become next year’s Thad Young. Veteran presence who can play a bit off the bench in certain circumstances and help when called upon, which won’t be always. He seems to have the personality to do that.
Thad Young
Status: Unrestricted free agent.
Season: Solid mid-season pickup. Great vet, fit in with his teammates and just a solid presence all around.
Future: As good a guy as he was, it’s hard to see a role for a 34-year-old vet in his 16th NBA season fitting in. Maybe the money works to bring him back but it’s a longshot. Nothing against Young, just pro sports reality.
yuta watanabe
Status: Unrestricted free agent.
Season: Another player who never got any traction for a variety of reasons and maybe with a 10-game stretch of 15 minutes a night, he would have solidified a rotation spot. It didn’t happen.
Future: Everyone likes Watanabe. Good teammate, intriguing prospect, probably possesses NBA skills. Probably worth another short-term, small-money deal.
Svi Mykhailiuk
Status: Player option for 2022-23.
Season: A better athlete than maybe they thought but a shooter who can’t consistently make a shot isn’t going to play a lot.
Future: Not sure there’ll be a ton of interest if he declines his option and seeks other employment. But also not sure there will be any kind of role for him in a second Raptors season. Finding a lucrative European deal might be his best play.
isaac bonga
Status: Unrestricted free agent.
Season: They should have kept Sam Dekker over him, as it turns out. But sometimes you gamble and lose.
Future: He was quite content to work on his skills in the G League rather than try to force his way on to an NBA court. Maybe it’ll work somewhere else, hard to see another gamble like that in Toronto.
justin champagne
Status: Restricted free agent
Season: Intriguing. He was good in very limited minutes with the Raptors as an energy guy and rebounder. He needed a good long G League run to become a better shooter and he did.
Future: Can certainly see him sticking next season. He’s got really intriguing 3-and-D skills and he made big strides as a shooter. He’s also got lots of fans on the staff and in the front office. He should be back.
David Johnson
Status: Restricted free agent
Season: Was OK in the G League, never got a shot in Toronto.
Future: Can’t see where he fits except as a G Leaguer.
Harmony Brooks
Status: Non-guaranteed contract for 2022-23.
Season: A couple of 10-day deals, another until the end of the year; he missed 26-of-36 three-pointers he took.
Future: Somewhere else.
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