Title: Raptors free agency: Cap update, Fred VanVleet market, buy-low targets and more
Date: November 19, 2020
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I updated the Raptors’ cap sheet, free agent statuses and buy-low options ahead of the official start of the offseason.
The evening after the NBA Draft is normally a time for exhalation.
After months of preparation, a team has secured bright pieces of its future, and the stresses of free agency are at least a week away. Sure, there are calls to make about training camp deals and Summer League rosters, but those have been ongoing, and a recharge is needed for the offseason ahead. It’s a night to crack a beer, and if you’re a Toronto Raptors first-round pick, maybe order some Wingstop.
This isn’t a normal time, though, something you probably don’t need to be reminded of in every fourth or fifth lede. Instead, the gap between the Zoom introduction of the team’s draft selections and the opening of the official negotiating window for free agents is about 26 hours this year. Unofficially, negotiations have surely been going on for a while. Teams can’t botch a sign-and-trade well before even discussing sign-and-trades is allowed without circumventing the letter of the law in some way.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 