Free Agency & Trades Thread 2 **NOW OPEN**

[Tor_Raps]

How much are the raptors over the tax limit by? Would cutting Lawson/Castleton and replacing them with the 2nd round pick Martin put us under?

[Dennis 37]

Don't recall that, but I am 65.

Hehe something to look forward to. "Oh did I say that? I don't recall. I'm 65 you see."

"We used to wear onions on our belts. It was the style of the time."

[mtcan]

How much are the raptors over the tax limit by? Would cutting Lawson/Castleton and replacing them with the 2nd round pick Martin put us under?

According to Blake Murphy's cap primer...we are 4 million over. And like I suggested...trading Ochai for less salary or trade exception and maybe a pick is the easiest path to getting under the tax.

[navyblue]

How much are the raptors over the tax limit by? Would cutting Lawson/Castleton and replacing them with the 2nd round pick Martin put us under?

We have 16 players signed 14+Lawson castleton

We are 5.25 mil above the tax for those 16

Drop Lawson casleton we are $800k into the tax for 14 players.

As things stand, martin probably gets 2way. At deadline dump temple and upgrade martin to standard contract then. That of course is barring any other moves.

[tanuki1031]

Tax calculations and payments are done at the end of the regular season late June after the NBA finals. The Raptors are barely over the luxury tax and could comfortably field the team as is for 82 games and cut whoever amounts to the $6M after the season ends. You actively trade yourself out of the tax before the season starts when you have a pretty solid idea you're going to do something significant near the trade deadline that could potentially put you well over the luxury tax. When you're a team like PHX who will be carrying salary + term, you look to dump as much as you can as soon as you can.

There is zero rush to drop Ochai or any of the 2-way / non-guaranteed guys like Castleton, AJ, etc.

[dhackett1565]

Yes, $875k over the tax (assuming the obvious cuts of Lawson and Castleton).

Because they are too close to the apron, they can't use the MLE to sign Martin to a multi-year deal right now, so either it's a two year deal at the rookie minimum, or he gets a 2nd round exception deal (which is more expensive), or as seems the likeliest choice, he takes a 2-way deal. Weird that we haven't heard yet which one it is.

Raps would be this far over the tax for each scenario:
2-way: 875k
Rookie min: 2.2M
2nd rd exc: 2.9M

Dumping Temple late in the season would allow them to use the MLE to get Martin on a 3 year deal. But not sure they'll be able to do it for cash. Expect a 2nd rounder heading out.

Still weird we don't have details. Makes me wonder if there is indeed another move coming.

[navyblue]

Tax calculations and payments are done at the end of the regular season late June after the NBA finals. The Raptors are barely over the luxury tax and could comfortably field the team as is for 82 games and cut whoever amounts to the $6M after the season ends. You actively trade yourself out of the tax before the season starts when you have a pretty solid idea you're going to do something significant near the trade deadline that could potentially put you well over the luxury tax. When you're a team like PHX who will be carrying salary + term, you look to dump as much as you can as soon as you can.

There is zero rush to drop Ochai or any of the 2-way / non-guaranteed guys like Castleton, AJ, etc.

Tax calculation is based on roster on final day of regular season.

[ciueli]

The Raptors are barely over the luxury tax and could comfortably field the team as is for 82 games and cut whoever amounts to the $6M after the season ends.

This is absolutely not true, BTW. You can't just "cut" a player after the season is done to get out of the tax. The reason teams make cost cutting moves at the trade deadline is specifically to get themselves out of the tax, we see many teams do this every year.

[canada_dry]

The onus would be on you guys since y’all are assuming he would come off the bench for us when he’s in the middle of trying to get an extension lmfao.

Thats literally not how it works brother...

YOU'RE the one saying he refuses to come off the bench. When? How? Where? What evidence is there to this claim? Just vibes?

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

This isn’t a one way street. You guys are saying he would accept coming off the bench for this team when there hasn’t been any evidence for that.

This doesnt have to be that complicated, do you really think RJ would accept coming off the bench to let Jakobe or Ochai start for defensive reasons for a team he knows doesn’t really care about him in the long term? Is this a hot take now?

It is a one way street. You made a claim with zero evidence to back it up. That doesn't work anywhere. Legally. In business. In debate class. Nowhere

And im not claiming he would accept a backup position. I DON'T KNOW. I can't make claims i have no idea about and say it with 100% confidence that its a fact. That's what you did. Its a fallacy in and of itself.

Having said that if you asked my opinion... i think its 50/50. I don't know if he'd be thrilled about the proposition due to it being a contract year...and once you're in that role thats kinda how you're viewed across the leage...but he might be enough of a team player and unselfish enough to actually agree. He does have that DNA to him, i think. Darkos been telling him to watch a lot of manu for years now. Maybe they've been preparing him for the role this whole time

But again...that's opinion. Not fact.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

[PushDaRock]

Yes, $875k over the tax (assuming the obvious cuts of Lawson and Castleton).

Because they are too close to the apron, they can't use the MLE to sign Martin to a multi-year deal right now, so either it's a two year deal at the rookie minimum, or he gets a 2nd round exception deal (which is more expensive), or as seems the likeliest choice, he takes a 2-way deal. Weird that we haven't heard yet which one it is.

Raps would be this far over the tax for each scenario:
2-way: 875k
Rookie min: 2.2M
2nd rd exc: 2.9M

Dumping Temple late in the season would allow them to use the MLE to get Martin on a 3 year deal. But not sure they'll be able to do it for cash. Expect a 2nd rounder heading out.

Still weird we don't have details. Makes me wonder if there is indeed another move coming.

All we got for taking on Wiseman was cash, so not sure why we would be expected to attach a SRP to dump Temple.

We are probably just keeping options open in case something does happen, but the expected scenario is he signs a 2-way.

[Godaddycurse]

Yes, $875k over the tax (assuming the obvious cuts of Lawson and Castleton).

Because they are too close to the apron, they can't use the MLE to sign Martin to a multi-year deal right now, so either it's a two year deal at the rookie minimum, or he gets a 2nd round exception deal (which is more expensive), or as seems the likeliest choice, he takes a 2-way deal. Weird that we haven't heard yet which one it is.

Raps would be this far over the tax for each scenario:
2-way: 875k
Rookie min: 2.2M
2nd rd exc: 2.9M

Dumping Temple late in the season would allow them to use the MLE to get Martin on a 3 year deal. But not sure they'll be able to do it for cash. Expect a 2nd rounder heading out.

Still weird we don't have details. Makes me wonder if there is indeed another move coming.

All we got for taking on Wiseman was cash, so not sure why we would be expected to attach a SRP to dump Temple.

We are probably just keeping options open in case something does happen, but the expected scenario is he signs a 2-way.

ownership might rather send out a 2nd than cash...

[Zeno]

Yes, $875k over the tax (assuming the obvious cuts of Lawson and Castleton).

Because they are too close to the apron, they can't use the MLE to sign Martin to a multi-year deal right now, so either it's a two year deal at the rookie minimum, or he gets a 2nd round exception deal (which is more expensive), or as seems the likeliest choice, he takes a 2-way deal. Weird that we haven't heard yet which one it is.

Raps would be this far over the tax for each scenario:
2-way: 875k
Rookie min: 2.2M
2nd rd exc: 2.9M

Dumping Temple late in the season would allow them to use the MLE to get Martin on a 3 year deal. But not sure they'll be able to do it for cash. Expect a 2nd rounder heading out.

Still weird we don't have details. Makes me wonder if there is indeed another move coming.

Yeah, they seem to be waiting in case a move happens. But he’ll be signed to something for sure before he steps on the floor in Las Vegas.

[RapsFanInOhio]

How much are the raptors over the tax limit by? Would cutting Lawson/Castleton and replacing them with the 2nd round pick Martin put us under?

According to Blake Murphy's cap primer...we are 4 million over. And like I suggested...trading Ochai for less salary or trade exception and maybe a pick is the easiest path to getting under the tax.

You got a link to an updated primer?

[mtcan]

How much are the raptors over the tax limit by? Would cutting Lawson/Castleton and replacing them with the 2nd round pick Martin put us under?

According to Blake Murphy's cap primer...we are 4 million over. And like I suggested...trading Ochai for less salary or trade exception and maybe a pick is the easiest path to getting under the tax.

You got a link to an updated primer?

I stand corrected. It is from Raptors Republic:

https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2025/06/30/where-the-raptors-stand-cap-wise-heading-into-free-agency/

[douggood]

According to Blake Murphy's cap primer...we are 4 million over. And like I suggested...trading Ochai for less salary or trade exception and maybe a pick is the easiest path to getting under the tax.

You got a link to an updated primer?

I stand corrected. It is from Raptors Republic:

https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2025/06/30/where-the-raptors-stand-cap-wise-heading-into-free-agency/

thats a little dated since the mamu signing

https://www.capsheets.com/toronto-raptors-cap-sheet/

here is the summary of our cap situation.

we are $5.25 into the tax, but that is counting the salaries of lawson and castleton
otherwise we are $.77 into the tax for the 14 signed players and the two 2way contracts(chomche, hepburn), Alijah martin remains unsinged.

all the other stuff like bonuses from the article and such aren't necessary to bother with right now since we haven't triggered the hard cap and even then it will only matter if we end up going 3-4 mil into the tax (*under certain scenarios)

here is what they will do. sign martin to a 2way deal, in a month or so upgrade him to standard deal when his cap hit + $.77 mil is less than temples $2.3 mil. then at deadline use cash to offload temple, unless other trades make it unnecessary.

[CazOnReal]

How much are the raptors over the tax limit by? Would cutting Lawson/Castleton and replacing them with the 2nd round pick Martin put us under?

1. Martin is presumed to be the final spot on the roster as is. Beyond cap concerns, having him take up an official roster slot lets the team use the 2nd round exception.

2. People need to understand that we have a certain threshold of roster spots that need to be filled out or we take a penalty, at least until the tail-end of the season where you can stretch out those 10 days and whatnot for the remainder of the season. Cutting Lawson/Castleton doesn't really do much aside from opening up a spot for the training camp battle a la Jamison eventually getting that spot.

3. There's some very easy ways to get under the tax at the deadline, namely with RJ but Ochai is an alternative who can very likely be flipped for a first rounder if he continues his shooting from last season - hell he more or less went for a first and has only improved since that deal! Whichever of the two one plans to keep around for at least another season, there's plenty of options to free up some cap space in the near future.

[HumbleRen]

Thats literally not how it works brother...

YOU'RE the one saying he refuses to come off the bench. When? How? Where? What evidence is there to this claim? Just vibes?

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

This isn’t a one way street. You guys are saying he would accept coming off the bench for this team when there hasn’t been any evidence for that.

This doesnt have to be that complicated, do you really think RJ would accept coming off the bench to let Jakobe or Ochai start for defensive reasons for a team he knows doesn’t really care about him in the long term? Is this a hot take now?

It is a one way street. You made a claim with zero evidence to back it up. That doesn't work anywhere. Legally. In business. In debate class. Nowhere

And im not claiming he would accept a backup position. I DON'T KNOW. I can't make claims i have no idea about and say it with 100% confidence that its a fact. That's what you did. Its a fallacy in and of itself.

Having said that if you asked my opinion... i think its 50/50. I don't know if he'd be thrilled about the proposition due to it being a contract year...and once you're in that role thats kinda how you're viewed across the leage...but he might be enough of a team player and unselfish enough to actually agree. He does have that DNA to him, i think. Darkos been telling him to watch a lot of manu for years now. Maybe they've been preparing him for the role this whole time

But again...that's opinion. Not fact.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

Absolutisms is an intellectual dishonest standpoint.

You can apply this logic to any player then. Would Scottie accept coming off the bench? Would Ingram? They’re both “unselfish” players. By your logic, we can just “WE DONT KNOW” everything when in reality, we can make an informed decision that the likelyhood of that happening is very low due to context we can apply to a situation.

[HumbleRen]

I think letting go of Ochai for RJ would be a pretty bad mistake.

Cheap 3&D guys are hard to come by but if the FO gets the sense that some team will be willing to pay Ochai in the off-season, I’d get it.

[Zeno]

Is RJ really in a contract year? I thought he had a player option but Spotrac has him without one. I search for his original rookie extension news and they mention no options in the deal too.

[navyblue]

Is RJ really in a contract year? I thought he had a player option but Spotrac has him without one. I search for his original rookie extension news and they mention no options in the deal too.

he has 2 years left, no options
he is extension eligible though.