Scottie Barnes forms a solid foundation for the Raptors to build. The pressure is on the Toronto front office to figure out the right pieces around him. He is only scratching the surface of his incredible potential together with the four.
The Raptors have several ways to do it heading into the 2022-23 season. The first was the draft, where he found another potential diamond in the rough in Christian Koloko, the 33rd overall pick. Next up is free agency, which opens Thursday, June 30.
How much money will the Raptors have to spend in free agency, and who should they go after?
Technically, the Raptors have no cap space available this offseason, but they have two resources at their disposal. Your best shot at acquiring a quality free agent is to use the mid-tier exception, worth up to $10.3 million, or the biannual exception, worth up to $4.1 million.
Even after drafting Koloko, the Raptors will likely look for an upgrade at center in free agency. They could also use a backup at any of the guard positions. Toronto's second unit averaged 25.7 points and 4.4 assists per game this season. I was ranking it last in both categories.
This is unlikely but not impossible.
It's unlikely because the Raptors don't have the cap space to directly sign Ayton, the best center in this free-agent class, who is expected to get a maximum contract. It's not impossible, though, because they could, in theory, acquire him in a sign-and-trade with the Suns.
The Raptors have been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Ayton if the Suns decide to go the sign-and-trade route.
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