Three Raptors become officially trade-eligible tomorrow
The Toronto Raptors’ front office will have a few more options available at its disposal starting tomorrow.
Unlike most other major leagues, the NBA has a special clause called the “recently signed restriction” in its standard contracts that prohibits players from being traded in the first few months of their new deals with a new team.
Allowing players (and teams) a bit of stability, the rule also has the unintended consequence of sparking a bunch of trade speculation around this time of year.
This year, that date when the recently signed restriction lifts falls on December 15, which marks the unofficial opening of the trade market league-wide. The Raptors have three such players who will see those restrictions lifted tomorrow: Garrett Temple, Dennis Schroder, and Jalen McDaniels, as per ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
While any of the three players could hypothetically get traded, they all have differing values around the league.
Making $2.01 million over a one-year, contract, Temple has played 16 total minutes this season.
At age 37, he’s still putting in the work — it’s not uncommon to see him running up and down the steps of Scotiabank Arena during his pregame workouts or giving it his all in practice — but he’s not likely to make much of an on-court impact really anywhere at this point in his career.
If he’s included in any trade, it’d be mostly to match the required salary level to make the trade work.
Making an average of $4.6 million each year over a two-year deal, McDaniels has been in and out of the team’s rotation all season, having put up 2.1 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in 15 games, averaging 9.2 minutes a night. He’s 11th on the team in total minutes played, just outside of the 10-man rotation Toronto head coach Darko Rajakovic likes to use.
Based on how he’s been used in his three NBA stops in Toronto, Philadelphia, and Charlotte, teams trading for him likely wouldn’t see him as much more than a deep bench option. More likely than not, it seems he’s also bound to stick around.
And then there’s Schroder, the most valuable option available from both an on-court and a financial standpoint, who’s making $26 million over the next two seasons. Toronto’s starting point guard in each game this year, the 30-year-old is putting up marks of 15.4 points, 7.0 assists, and 3.0 rebounds. The main way Schroder would likely be moved would be if Toronto decided to commit to a rebuild and there was a contender looking for his services.
In any case, the Raptors probably aren’t making any trades just yet. But at the very least, they’ll have a few more options up their sleeves starting tomorrow.