The Raptors have renounced the NBA rights to former second-round pick DeAndre Daniels, the team announced today (via Twitter). Daniels was selected 37th overall by Toronto in the 2014 draft.
Daniels, 25, was a key member of the 2014 UConn squad that won a national championship, but hasn’t been able to earn a spot on the Raptors’ NBA roster over the last three years. Since being drafted, Daniels has honed his game elsewhere, spending a year in Australia, a year with Toronto’s D-League team, and a year in Italy last season.
A Jones fracture in his right foot derailed Daniels’ 2015/16 season, limiting him to just eight games for the Raptors 905 in the spring, but he bounced back with a solid 2016/17 campaign for Italian club Stings Mantova, averaging 13.0 PPG and a team-high 6.6 RPG in 35 Italian League games.
With his NBA rights no longer held by the Raptors, Daniels would be free to sign with any of the league’s other 29 teams, if there’s interest. While it’s possible he’ll still make his NBA debut at some point, I’d expect Daniels to start the 2017/18 season overseas, or with a D-League team.
Hope he signs with the Red Claws, they can use his versatility!
What’s the point in releasing his rights, from Toronto’s perspective?
So he could explore other opportunities instead of being controlled by the raptors.
Yeah, I think that must be it, unless there’s more to the story we don’t know about. There’s no real downside to hanging onto his rights from the Raptors’ perspective, but if they knew he wasn’t going to get a chance to make their roster anytime soon, maybe they just did him a solid.
idk y they just don’t keep him in the dleague. mayb the finances play a role
Why would he want to stay in the dleague and make 25k when he could go overseas and make 100k+ tax free.