The Toronto Raptors and Kelly Olynyk have agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $26.5 million, as reported
by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. At the trade deadline, Olynyk was acquired by the Raptors in a deal that sent a first-
round pick to the Utah Jazz along with Ochai Agbaji. Since joining the Raptors in February, Olynyk, a member of the
Canadian National Team and a Toronto native, has averaged 9.6 points per game.
Raptors general manager Bobby Webster said in a statement, “We’ve been a fan of Kelly’s game for a long time and
are thrilled he will continue his career in Toronto.”
Olynyk’s contract extension is an intriguing turn of events for the Toronto front office, which doesn’t always follow
the script. The Raptors traded away players like Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby for the majority of the season,
setting themselves up to potentially create over $40 million in cap space this offseason.
Olynyk’s new contract doesn’t push them over the limit, but it does eat up a sizable portion of the anticipated space.
Toronto may have simply determined that Olynyk represented better value than the kind of players they might have
targeted on the free agent market given the relatively poor predicted free-agent class expected this season and the
fact that several of the best players expect to be available are recent former Raptors the free market.
Over the course of his previous contracts, Olynyk’s market has primarily been mid-level money, and he fits in well
with a Toronto team that still lacks shooting. The burlier Jakob Poeltl complements him nicely in a frontcourt, and
even if Scottie Barnes has become a better shooter, he will still gain from having a big man close by who can draw
defenses away from the paint.
The Raptors are currently working out their long-term roster strategy. There will undoubtedly be significant
adjustments during the summer, and Olynyk will most likely still have a trade market if they choose to investigate it.
But for the time being, they’ve bound him to a contract for a fair price to fill a in a needful situation. That’s a
respectable amount of business all around.
