Pending free agent Poeltl not interested in a rebuild with Raptors: report
The Toronto Raptors, like many teams across the NBA, are searching for what their identity will be next season.
Coming off their second season in three years where they failed to make the playoffs, Toronto enters this Thursday’s NBA Draft with major question marks around the future of their roster construction.
As per ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, it’s still not all that apparent whether pending free agent centre Jakob Poeltl will be back next year with Toronto after joining the team at the trade deadline earlier this season from San Antonio.
Poeltl has spent seven seasons in the NBA but has made the postseason just three times in his career, most recently in 2018-19 with the Spurs.
It appears that Poeltl’s at least considering options other than Toronto, who finished 41-41 last year before bowing out of the postseason race with a play-in game loss to the Chicago Bulls.
“It’s also not clear whether [the Raptors] will be able to meet the financial demands of center Jakob Poeltl in free agency, who prefers not to be in a rebuilding situation next season, sources told ESPN,” Givony wrote in a mock draft article for ESPN.
Sportsnet’s Michael Grange projected a salary range of $20 million per season for Poeltl in an article yesterday, per league sources.
It’s an interesting time for Toronto, who has the possibility of running back a similar roster as last year, with the biggest change coming in the form of new coach Darko Rajaković.
Poeltl averaged 13.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 26 games for the Raptors this season, giving the team their first quality true centre since the days of Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol.
In the seasons since 2019-20, Toronto had opted for a series of differing options: Aron Baynes, Alex Len, Precious Achiuwa, but none had the impact or consistency Poeltl offered the team during his second stint this year. Poeltl’s main natural backup is sophomore Christian Koloko, though he averaged just 13.8 minutes per game last season and a starting role would be a major step for the 7’1” 2022 second-round draft pick.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that Poeltl isn’t exactly hyped to be on a roster not quite sure of their future, as the potential move lines up with his words from the most recent public media availability in April.
“We’re kind of leaving with this like bad taste in our mouths. I personally feel like [I want to] do better than that,” Poeltl said following the Raptors’ season-ending play-in loss. “Obviously I wanted to win some games. I was really looking forward to coming here. Being part of a winning environment, being part of [that] intensity again, that every-game-matters mentality.”
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