Former Raptors centre hits the NBA waiver wire
A former Toronto Raptors regular has found himself in search of a new job.
Five days before the NBA season, former Toronto centre Khem Birch was waived today by the San Antonio Spurs after failing to crack their roster, as per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
The San Antonio Spurs are waiving center Khem Birch, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Birch has averaged 5 points and 4.4 rebounds over six NBA seasons.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 19, 2023
Should Birch fail to be claimed in the next 48 hours, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent.
Birch was acquired by San Antonio in a trade this past February as part of Toronto’s acquisition of Jakob Poeltl, but he never actually suited up for his new side due to a lingering knee injury.
Birch’s last NBA action came on December 29, 2022, and it’s looking like it could be a long road ahead for the 31-year-old Montreal native if he’s looking for another spot in the league.
This isn’t the first time that Birch has been waived, as the Orlando Magic cut him loose back in April 2021, allowing Toronto to sign him for the rest of the season.
Birch averaged 5.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 94 games for the Raptors in his career across the three seasons he spent with the franchise from 2020-21 through 2022-23.
A return to Toronto would be possible under new coach Darko Rajaković, particularly with 2022 draft pick Christian Koloko missing the start of Toronto training camp due to a respiratory illness and Poeltl also missing games this week.
But given how Birch’s tenure ended with the franchise, it still seems unlikely that Toronto would pick him up this season. Chris Boucher seems to be Toronto’s stopgap option at the position for the time being, earning the praise of his new coach earlier this week.
“He can protect the rim. He runs [on] offense, transition, really well… I want him to be even more aggressive on the offensive end in the sense that he makes good decisions,” Rajaković said of Boucher at a recent media availability.
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