"Unfinished business": Poeltl explains why he chose to stay with Raptors
Jakob Poeltl busted out one of the most classic clichés today when discussing why he ultimately stayed with the Raptors: “unfinished business.”
With no shortage of suitors for his services, the 27-year-old veteran centre was officially inked today to a previously reported four-year, $80-million contract to remain in Toronto.
Poeltl confirmed there were other parties he spoke to throughout the free agent period — one of them his former employer, the San Antonio Spurs, who the Raptors re-acquired Poeltl from at last year’s trade deadline — but opted for the possibility to continue growing with a team he believes has a bright future ahead of them.
With Toronto crashing out of the postseason race with a disappointing playoff loss to the Chicago Bulls on home court in the 9-10 play-in game, Poeltl opted for another shot with the Raptors instead of finding work elsewhere.
“I said this after the last season, I had some unfinished business here… we really didn’t end the season the way we wanted to,” Poeltl said at a press conference on Thursday. “At the end of the day, what it came down to is really just trying to find the best overall package for me, trying to evaluate every option and then seek to see what’s what’s out there.”
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.
And while the thought of leaving Toronto for San Antonio — for the second time, after the Raptors shipped him there in 2018 as part of the DeMar DeRozan-Kawhi Leonard swap — crossed his mind, Poeltl opted against a chance to go to the Spurs and play with incoming 7’4″ phenom Victor Wembanyama.
“We always had this understanding that I think they were really happy with my time there and I was really happy with my time there,” Poeltl said of a possible return to San Antonio.
With Gary Trent Jr. opting into his contract on June 20, Poeltl and former Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet were the two biggest dominoes left to fall during Toronto’s free agency period. Poeltl’s contract news broke at 6:51 pm ET on June 30, with VanVleet’s contract news coming in just under two hours later at 8:43 pm ET the same day.
“Neither of us really knew going into it what was going to happen,” Poeltl said of his conversations with VanVleet. “I would’ve liked to keep playing with Fred, we created some chemistry here, he was definitely a big part of my success. But that’s the NBA… you’ve got to roll with the punches.”
While there’s a sense of familiarity in many aspects for Poeltl staying in Toronto, there’s also been a series of fairly significant changes, with head coach Nick Nurse departing for the Philadelphia 76ers, while newcomer Darko Rajaković has replaced nearly all of the Raptors’ assistant coaching staff with his own preferences.
“We’re gonna find out how things change. But I think even though coaches change other faces around the organization change, there’s still a lot of very familiar faces here from my first couple years here in Toronto,” Poeltl said in response to a question asked by Daily Hive. “I’ve always been that guy where I’m just gonna really roll with the punches.”
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