A report by ESPN’s Marc Stein says that Valanciunas is finalizing a four-year extension with Canada’s only National Basketball Association team.
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There’s no word on what would “escalate” Valanciunas’ deal to that $70 million range, but one has to assume that it’s incentives that probably include something like making All-Star or All-NBA teams.
Although Valanciunas hasn’t lived up to his expectations, the fifth overall pick in 2011 has at least become a vital role player and has had a hand in Toronto’s recent success.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, Valanciunas’ contract extension is four years, worth $64 million with a player option on the final year. Nevertheless, Valanciunas posted a career-best shooting percentage and had a PER over 20 last season.
Valanciunas, meanwhile, gets a deal that would have been around his max under the previous cap system without really accomplishing all that much. Valanciunas’ new deal will begin in the 2016-17 season.
And looming in the distance is Enes Kanter, who was a restricted free agent this summer and got an offer sheet from the Portland Trail Blazers that Oklahoma City matched rather than lose him. The Raptors were mostly quiet this offseason, but the team did sign DeMarre Carroll and now they have been mentioned as a possible destination for Morris, as he reportedly wants out of Phoenix after his twin brother Marcus was traded and he has a relationship with Kyle Lowry.
There was no doubt in Jonas Valanciunas’s mind that he’d re-sign with the Toronto Raptors.
As for what it means for the Raptors future, they needed to lock up Valanciunas.
Well, it looks like the Toronto Raptors have chose to, and they’re getting a pretty tremendous bargain.
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Valanciunas has has averaged 10.9 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 26.3 minutes over three seasons with the Raptors and shown steady progress in his play. If his face-up jump shot remains a last resort; if he counts more assists than turnovers and defensively the game still seems too fast for him at times a year or two from now?
