JULY 19: The Raptors have officially signed Thomas, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. As we relayed in a separate post, his three-year, minimum-salary deal is said to include two fully guaranteed seasons.
JULY 1: EuroLeague guard Matt Thomas has agreed to a three-year contract with the Raptors, according to Varlas Nikos of Eurohoops.net (Twitter link). The total amount of the deal is $4.2MM, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
While the deal looks like it will be worth the minimum, the Raptors will use a slice of their mid-level exception to sign Thomas. Without the MLE, the team couldn’t have offered more than two years.
Thomas exercised an NBA opt-out clause in his contract with Valencia Basket of Spain’s Liga ACB in order to make the jump. The 6’5” Thomas, 24, played college ball at Iowa State.
He went undrafted in 2017 and played on the Lakers’ summer league team, then played in Spain for Monbus Obradoiro. He signed a two-year deal with Valencia last summer. He appeared in 29 games last season, averaging 11.4 PPG in 20.3 MPG. He was the team’s best 3-point shooter, knocking down 48.5% from long range, a skill which made him desirable to NBA teams.
I wonder if he will be another vanvleet for the raptors
Has a chance to be. Raptors have to be one of the best, if not the best, at finding and developing young talent. The Raptors G league team is truly one of the best developmental opportunities available for players hoping to develop NBA Calibre games. Siakam, Van Vleet, both started with the Raptors 905, with Siakam being a former G league MVP. Chris Boucher is a name to watch, lengthy, athletic Canadian kid, who was the G league MVP last year. There’s a reason the Raps were NBA champions this season, and will likely be again if Kawhi resigns. Excellent management, development, coupled with knowledgeable scouting.
Excellent comments
As long as Masai is in charge Raptors will be contenders
I know not with him, but were the Raps able to use the expiring trade exception they had from the Kawhi Leonard deal?
Nope, it expired. They do still have a handful of other small ones that won’t expire until February due to their deadline deals last season.