Raptors castoff Jeff Dowtin Jr. lands spot with new G League team

Jeff Dowtin Jr. was let go by the Toronto Raptors last month, but he found his way onto a new G League roster this week.

Dowtin, who was one of three players waived by Toronto on October 20, is joining the Delaware Blue Coats roster.

Jeff Dowtin will be joining the Coats today.👀 https://t.co/pIVOLeXcbC

— Delaware Blue Coats (@blue_coats) November 2, 2023

Dowtin Jr.’s G League rights were acquired by Philadelphia earlier in the offseason, which explains why he’s on the roster of the 76ers-affiliated Blue Coats. While he was also eligible to be signed or claimed by any of the NBA’s 29 other teams, it looks like he’ll be heading toward the developmental league to try to work his way back to the NBA.

Dowtin Jr. averaged 2.4 points, 1.2 assists and 0.9 rebounds in 25 games for the Raptors in the 2022-23 season.

For a period of time, Dowtin looked like he could be a regular part of the team’s long-term plan.

The now 25-year-old guard was signed in the summer of 2022 on a two-way, non-guaranteed contract but was ineligible to play come play-in time last spring due to having reached his maximum 50 games on the roster. The Raptors had the option to convert his contract to a guaranteed deal but opted not to go through with it, and he was thus ineligible for last season’s play-in tournament and postseason.

“I think we played him in as many games as we can. Jeff is part of this team, is going to be part of this team in the future,” Toronto president Masai Ujiri said in response to a question asked by Daily Hive back in April. “Maybe not handled the best way. But I think the overall view of this is Jeff as part of our future.”

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