The Raptors have a lot of work to do this offseason to keep pieces together and reload for next season, but may already have one deal done with Serge Ibaka.
The Toronto Raptors put together a solid run to the third seed in the Eastern Conference, advancing all the way to the Conference Semifinals. This upcoming offseason is an important one for the team, but it looks like they already have an agreement with forward Serge Ibaka.
According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, the Raptors and Ibaka have “basically” agreed to a new deal, starting at about $20 million. The deal comes in the midst of a lot of questions surrounding the Raptors priorities for this year’s free agency, and this seems to showcase where their mindset is.
“League sources said that a new deal for Ibaka is basically done and that it will start in the $20 million range,” Kyler reported. “It’s possible someone surfaces on July 1 with a better offer, but given Ibaka’s age and rocky season in Orlando, that seems unlikely.”
The team currently has a lot of questions surrounding their point guard, Kyle Lowry, who opted out of the last year of his contract to pursue free agency this offseason. Toronto may be ready to move on from their star given the nature of this deal, and especially after giving DeMar DeRozan such a big deal last offseason.
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The deal may also be showing that the Raptors are done with Jonas Valanciunas, as Raptors president Masai Ujiri has said Ibaka is better now at center than power forward, and Valanciunas’ departure could provide some cap relief.
The Raptors have a lot of moves to make in order to compete with the Cleveland Cavaliers or Boston Celtics, and it looks like they’re already on their way to a busy offseason.